


Asset Management

by fabricdragon



Series: A Twisted Skein [9]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Bigotry & Prejudice, Brainwashing, Canon-Typical Violence, Characters Reading Fanfiction, Dubious Consent, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, F/M, Food Issues, Makeup, Past Abuse, Past Torture, Work Contains Fan(s) or Fandom(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2018-09-09 03:37:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 39,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8874262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: So when Fluffy went off to kill Alexander Pierce, she wasn't expecting  the Winter Soldier... it was supposed to be a normal  assasination job, one without mutant cyborg bodyguards...anyway, he's cute.Takes place in the same universe, and the same timeline, as the main narrative, and YES the story lines will overlap(so if i say "go read chapter XYZ of  the main story here, thats why)





	1. Heading South

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy is heading off to deal with Pierce.   
> Begins after chapter 32 of Will You Walk Into My Parlor.

 

“Try not to draw attention, Sandra,” Emma said telepathically as they’d gone their separate ways. “Pierce is a mundanely powerful person, not just another mutant.”

“Chill, Emma, you act like I haven’t toasted enough businessmen and shit.”

Fluffy could feel Emma sigh, “I know, you just…”

Fluffy snickered, “Boss Lady, I may not be elegant and subtle like a telepath, but I am fucking GOOD at killing things.”

“Yes, yes you are.” Fluffy had the sensation of a hand ruffling her hair‑which was kind of impressive given that Fluffy was in the back of a van, heading south down the coast, and Emma Frost was heading back to the Hellfire Club, if she wasn’t there already.

“So, you gonna dish on the Avengers?”

“We are officially allies, Sandra.” Her mental voice was amused.

“So? We both signed on to the bindings. And they’re CUTE.” Fluffy mentally charted up five fan fictions, and discarded three for being too close to reality. “C’moooonnnnn.” She put as much of a whine into it as she could.

“You’re impossible.”

“Yeah, so?” She mentally stuck her tongue out.

“Natasha is deeply conflicted, isn’t certain of who she is, and is psychologically fragile, like most deep cover operatives. She puts on a good face, though.”

“Yawn. So is she sleeping with Hawkeye? And who’s on top.”

“No, or only for cover. And he is.”

“HE is? Wait, really?!  So, Iron in the Fire, Hawk… not birthday presents Hawk? Cool.”

“You’d LIKE him Sandra.”

Fluffy purred. “Oh man, those arms? I could just eat him up with a bowl of cream.” She frowned, “He seemed laid back though.”

“He is unsettled; a lot has been changing. He also has prior damage from the scepter.”

“Well, yah, I mean we saw that.”  Fluffy frowned. “Loki?”

“I cannot read him.  Tony thinks he is concerned about me and putting shields up.”

“So what were you two up to? Everyone thinks it’s like PTSD.” Fluffy was scribbling fan fiction notes in her notebook.

“Don’t you?”

“Heh. No.”

“I can’t tell you.”

Fluffy rolled her eyes. “So, Fury?”

“What about him?”

“He is like all kinds of sexy in chocolate sauce.”

“He isn’t into your kind of games. He’s strong, kind, and very‑”

“KIND?”

“Yes. He is afraid to get too close to anyone. It’s worse with the current problems.”

“I got the idea Tony hated his guts.”

“He does; the feeling is mutual.”

“Ok, so… Rogers?  That guy is so NOT the way they portray him. Wholesome, apple pie, virginal, choir boy my ass...”

“I’m not sure he would be comfortable with anything public. He’s very reserved.” Emma chuckled. “Also not likely you could get your claws into him.”

“Oh, I figured. He’s nice eye candy, though.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t mention Coulson.  I know your fondness for a well-cut suit.”

“Bleh.”

“I have other business; I will be unable to monitor your mission.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Emma.  It’s JUST killing people.”

Emma started snickering, “Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep a straight face when you said Wolverine was harmless?”

“He is.”

“I’ve touched his mind, Sandra… He’s a killer.”

“Nope. Big cuddly teddy bear full of knives.”

“He would gut me without a second thought.”

“Sure, boss, but he wouldn’t gut ME.”

After a pause, “You do have a point, Sandra.”

“I’m gonna nap, anyway.  I’ll see you like Wednesday or something…. unless I go to this Knit Night thing; then Thursday.”

“Happy hunting.”

Fluffy turned over in the van and went to sleep; years of practice meant she was asleep within moments.  The driver and backup driver would continue until they were close by, then wake her up. Other than one stop at Maryland House‑ at which Fluffy bought a bag of candy, a bag of nuts, and three sandwiches while the men refueled the van‑they didn’t stop until they were in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Monday evening.

They parked the van some distance away, and she and one of the men‑and the one remaining sandwich and bag of candy‑drove off in a stolen car.  They pulled up in the area of Pierce’s home, and Fluffy got out.  She was in a pair of dark jeans, a T-shirt, and a hoodie.   She put the MP3 player’s ear buds in her ears and started walking.

 _An apparently attractive young woman, dancing along to music, attracts a lot of attention, but somehow no one ever associates them with the deaths,_ Fluffy thought amusedly _.  No one ever expects the killers to walk openly up, turn down the side of the house, and wander up to the back door, either.  It’s all about acting like you belong._

_Huh… the back door was open? Well, unlocked anyway.  Dude’s lucky no one broke in._

She heard the distinctive sounds of a silenced gunshot very close by. _The Fuq?_

Pierce dude was talking to some paramilitary dude, and… _yup, they just shot a witness. Well, isn’t that special.  I HATE armed victims_.  Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Fluffy fried both of the men. _I’ll just shoot Pierce and we can blame it all on the‑_

_FUCK THE GUY WAS ALIVE…. And angry! Very angry!_

 


	2. Happy Meal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, yes, it was supposed to be a quiet mission...

Fluffy had used enough energy to kill two or three ordinary men, but had held back so as not to explode any of the ammunition.  Pierce died, slowly; the energy sparked across his pistol, and the arm of the paramilitary man standing near him.

THAT man turned and leapt for her.  He should have been dead, or dying slowly with his internal organs cooking; instead, he was scorched and coming after her‑a dark shape with an arm reflecting her energy lights.

Fluffy reacted instantly, years of training having her take cover behind a solid counter before sending off a shockwave of energy that leveled part of the house. _Shit, shit, shit, this was supposed to be a QUIET operation…._ she thought as she tried to figure out what was on top of her.  _Ow_.  Apparently part of the second floor.

Sirens and alarms started going off in all directions.

_DAMMIT._

She crawled out of her pile of rubble and looked around.  _Yeah, no way this looked like anything other than a big mucking explosion._

A noise, like a high pitched moan, startled her.  Moving quickly, she found the source of the noise. _That damn paramilitary asshole had just managed to crawl out from under the rubble.  It would probably be a mercy to kill him; he was scorched all over in a way that said “burn ward” and “unlikely to survive”._   He rolled over and stared at her.

“You are one crazy tough motherfucker,” she said admiringly. “Reminds me of Wolvie.”

He tried to get up and kill her‑ she could tell‑ but he didn’t get very far.

“Huh. Well, if you live long enough,” Fluffy said, picking up a hunk of brick and slamming him in the side of the head with it, “maybe you’ll be useful.”

She grabbed him by the collar of the jacket and started hauling him out.  A few of the neighbors were coming out by now. She pulled her hoodie up over her head.

“Help! Help! Can someone help! I think he’s alive!”  _And heavy. Very heavy._

A few people, kind souls, braved the rubble and the fires to help her drag the poor guy to safety.

“He needs an ambulance!” someone shouted.

_No way, those things have cameras_. “I don’t know if we have time, can we get him in a car?”

“You shouldn’t move him any more… he could have internal injuries!” _Greaaat, just what I need_.  Fluffy nodded.

And then, the secondary driver came up in the car.  She was shocked: she figured he would have gone at the first boom. “Oh My God, can I HELP?”  he shouted from the car.

She waved, “Yeah, can you help me get this guy to a hospital?”

Ms. Useful Medical Information started protesting about not moving him again; just as Fluffy was debating exactly HOW to kill her, the gas lines caught fire.  After that, everyone was moving and her guy helped her drag Bag Of Bricks into the car.  They took off.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a kill mission?”  he asked, driving off at speed.

“Yeah, it was also supposed to be a QUIET one, with a mundane target and no mutants.”  She was starting to come down off of combat.  _Shit._ “Hey, where’s my candy?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, you try blowing up half a house and dealing with this guy.  I want sugar.”

“I think you put him on top of it.”

“There’s a convenience store. Stop.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Look, dude, I like you, you came back with the car, I’ll put you in for a bonus, but if you don’t find me food I will kill you.”

“Uh…”

“Yeah?”

“How about a fast food drive through?”

Fluffy considered this. “Ok.”

They went through a McDonalds.  Fluffy ordered enough for five people, plus a happy meal.

As they drove away the guy asked, “Why did you want a happy meal?”

“I like the toys, duh?  Oh cool! I got an Iron Man toy!”

“You are… a very strange lady.”

“Cool, you’re observant as well as quick.  I like you.”

“Why do we have a dead body in the car?”

“Because despite all reason, the dude is still kind of breathing.”

“WHAT?”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what I said.”

They got to the van. She had both of the guys help put him on the mattress.

“He has a bionic arm?”

“I guess that’s why he’s that heavy.” She shrugged.  She looked at the quick guy, “Hey.  You got cash on you?”

“Yeah,”

She handed him a few more bills from the van. “Ditch the car.  Take a bus or something back to New York. Good job.”

“Thank you?”

She crawled into the van. “Hey, driver.”

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“Stop and get food for yourself. You can order extra for me, too.  If you get too tired, see if there’s a place to crash. I’ll be out; wake me up if you need anything.”

“Yes, Ma’am. What about the food you have?”

“That’s my food.”

“… right.”

She curled up next to The Dude That Would Not Die, ate the fries and some chicken nuggets, and went to sleep. She woke up because _the guy MOVED._

She blinked down at him.  He was making little panting noises, probably from pain.

“Huh.  You really are tough.”

He said something then, blood coming out of his mouth.  She didn’t understand a word of it, but it sounded like Russian.  He kept trying to move, which wasn’t working too well.

Fluffy considered. “Ok, dude… you impressed me.  You can have my Big Mac.  I hope you appreciate that.” She tore a piece off the Big Mac and put it in his mouth.  He looked startled and swallowed reflexively.  He blinked at her and settled a bit.  She fed him another piece.  After he ate the whole sandwich, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

“Yo, driver?”

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“We need more sandwiches.  He’s  awake.  Ish.”

“Do we need to, um... restrain him?”

“Did you bring super restraints?”

“No.”

“Me neither, and I don’t think my leather cuffs are gonna slow him down, but he seems to like Big Macs.”

Over the rest of the drive to New York, Fluffy discovered that he also liked French Fries, chicken, fish and sandwiches, and as long as they were torn into tiny pieces and put in his mouth he would go to sleep almost immediately after eating them.

_Which was probably because he was healing. You can’t run a healing metabolism without fuel._  She had the driver stop and get a bunch of vitamin drinks and some hard-boiled eggs at a convenience store. 

He drank the drinks in little sips, but he wasn’t too fond of the hard boiled eggs.

“Yeah, me neither.”

They pulled into a rest stop and the driver took a nap while Fluffy dozed and fed the guy.

By the time they arrived at the Hellfire Club midday Tuesday, he had healed enough for Fluffy to discover one other thing: _he had pretty eyes._


	3. Ghost in the Machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Winter Soldier is damaged and has not been wiped...

The Asset had been thawed and equipped.  A list of targets had been given, and he was sent to Handler/Director for final mission brief. A witness had entered the briefing location and been dispatched. The Asset noted that Handler/Director was a good shot.

Light, pain, electric arc in Arm, systemic injuries.  Handler/Director was severely injured, appliances and equipment sparking and shorting.  Turn… movement… kill.

Light, PAIN, ELECTRIC SHOCK, dark.

System reboot failed.

{“Who are you?”}  he asked, looking up at wide eyes in a beautiful face lit by flickering lights. Bits of a song drifted through his mind.

“You are one crazy tough motherfucker,” she said admiringly. “Reminds me of Wolvie.”

_Oh man, she was a hell of a dame; most of them would have run screaming_. Witness. Eliminate.

The Witness picked up something and swung it. Blocking attempts failed.

System reboot failed.

The… Asset? Woke up.  Analysis: injuries still severe; likelihood of mission failure high; likelihood of survival? Low; Arm non-functional, repairs needed; pain intense enough to interfere with critical functions. _Shit, it hurt._

A girl rolled over next to him‑ _that was familiar somehow_ ‑ and looked down at him. “Huh.  You really are tough.”

{“Who are you? Are you my handler? Are you an angel?”}  He tried to move, but he couldn’t.  Repairs needed, critically.

The girl‑the Witness?‑ said things that he didn’t understand. She tore a piece off of something and put it in his mouth.  He swallowed reflexively. 

_Nutrition? She was giving him food_? She gave him more.  Analysis: situation unknown. Prioritize healing and recovery.  _It hurt, but a nurse gave him food._

The Witness? Angel? Dame? Nurse? Girl?  continued to feed him pieces of food. He tried to ignore the pain.  Pain was not compatible with… with anything.

French Fries are good. Burgers are good. Cold, rubbery, hard-boiled eggs are not good. Analysis: complete protein for healing, eat anyway.

 “Yeah, me neither.” The… she… laughed down at him.

The Asset… he… was in a van. The driver had pulled over to rest.  Analysis: healing.  Mission status: unknown. Current status: highly damaged, Arm nonfunctional.  Directives: recover, wait.

_This made no sense._

It became light outside.  The girl continued to feed him.  She had been damaged, but was functional.  She gave him some kind of pill: it was tart, and sweet. _Candy._

“You have pretty eyes, you know?”  _So do you_.

People came out with a medical gurney.  The girl was giving orders.  _Heh, she reminds me of Carter_. An image of a woman in uniform… a handler?

_No, not Carter… Ginny‑ bossy little kid in a gingham dress_ … _where was that data from?_

Irrelevant data to mission.

“Hey, hard to kill dude with the pretty eyes, can you take pain medication?”

“Yes.” _PLEASE!_

Doctors did things, there was an IV line, he didn’t like where it was going, but… Priority: recovery.

“Run a nutrient feed in full blast, Doc.”

“I know my job, Fluffy.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.  I gave up my Big Mac for this guy and he owes me Jelly Bellys. He better make it.”

“I’m surprised he made it this far.”

The pain started to recede. System shut down.

*

He started coming up slowly.  There was another nurse‑this one in proper whites.

“Sandra, you CANNOT be serious?”

“Dude owes me. Besides, he’s cute.”

A cool hand on his forehead; it was pulled away hurriedly. “He’s…”

“Emma? Emma? Are you ok? Hey! Help!”

He tried to get up, failed.

“Not you, pretty dude; lie down.” The girl was looking down at him again.  She had changed clothes; she was in a bright colored T-shirt with cartoon ponies on it.  _This made exactly ZERO sense_. “Emma passed out, what the hell did you do?”

“I don’t know.”

She smiled, “Hey! You speak English! I wondered.”

“What is my mission?”

“Uh… Lie there and get better?”

“Priority: recover.”  He shut down.

*

“Can you do this? I mean you passed out last time.”

“I was surprised. I still think it makes more sense to take him apart and study him. He’s really dangerous Sandra.”

“You guys owe me like several mission bonuses anyway.  He’s a mission bonus…. Besides, I gave him some of my food, he owes me.”

Cool feeling _. Cryo tank_? No, not painful: cool… sleepy…

*

He woke up. Analysis: medical prison cell.  Condition: functional‑ barely; Arm nonfunctional.  _At least I’m on pain meds._   He tried to sit up.

“Sir? Please lie down.”  Some kind of orderly, armed.

Analysis: more recovery needed. Shut down.

*

“Hey pretty dude, I heard you were trying to get up. How do you feel?”

Open eyes, girl from mission‑PRIORITY OVERRIDE: DO NOT HARM‑she was wearing a zip up hoodie like the one she’d been wearing on the mission.

“I… am functional.  The Arm is nonfunctional. Repairs needed.”

“Yeaaaah, about that.” She came over.

“Cats rule.”  Things shifted uneasily in his mind. “Battle Fantasia, Mamoru.” He felt like he was coming apart; he screamed. “Dominion, Hellfire.” Protect, obey. “Guardian, Thirteen, Opal.” His mind was a storm of emotions and memories: _falling, pain.._. “Aeon.”

He was perfectly calm. “Ready to comply.”

“Coool.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place over many days time. (His sense of time is a bit wonky right now)   
> Emma Frost made mental contact with the Winter Soldier, and promptly passed out (shock, she wasn't braced), after she recovered, she reluctantly agreed to switch out the programming codes (but not otherwise try to muck with too much)  
> Yes, Fluffy picked the new codes. Yes they mean stuff.


	4. Modified Parameters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

After the new mission reset, he had been given orders to rest and obey the doctors. They were kinder than the usual doctors. She was much nicer than the usual handlers.  There was no sign of the chair.

He had a mission, everything was in order.  He could rest. Time passed-it wasn’t important.

*

“Hey, pretty eyes,” his handler said from next to the bed.  “Time to get up again.”

The bed whirred and he was moved to an upright position. She was wearing one of the nonsensical T-Shirts again, and... _Cat ears? They moved…_

She looked confused at him, and then reached a hand up to the ears. “OH! Oh yeah, you didn’t see these.”

“Should I ignore them?”

“Whatever you like.”

That was very confusing.  She reached up and took the ears down; they were on a head band with an electrode attached to them.

“For… correction?”

“What?”

He tapped the electrode. “For correction?”

“Woah, so they used electrodes to correct you?”

“Yes.”

“No, not for correction. It makes the ears move when my brainwaves get more active.” She sighed, “Right up until I short out another pair.”

“I am ready for my new mission, but my Arm is nonfunctional.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I fried it.”

He shrugged.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Name?”

“Yeah, I’m Sandra, but my nickname is Fluffy.”

He thought.  It hurt. “Asset. Soldier.”

“That’s a title, not a name.” She looked at him thoughtfully. “Do you remember your name? Emma said someone went through your brain with a sledgehammer.”

Flickers went through his mind, they didn’t make sense.

“It’s ok, if you don’t remember.”

“Failure is not acceptable.”

She laughed, “Oooooh boy.” She got up on the edge of the bed. “You are something else, you know? I wonder how Hydra got you?”

“Hydra?”

“Yeah.”

 _Enemy/serve… what?_   His head hurt.

“Hydra is the bad guys,” Fluffy said, watching him carefully.

He was relieved: his handler said option “enemy” was correct. “Enemy.  Not serve.” He nodded. “I… couldn’t remember.”

“Huh.  Well, Emma says you may recover some more over time. She didn’t want to muck around too much. We just changed the control keys.”

“What?”

“You work for me now.”

“Yes.”

“I’m not calling you ‘Asset’.”  She frowned. She pulled out a phone and started typing.  He waited.

“How’s Eirian?” When he didn’t say anything she asked, “What’s your opinion of the name Eirian?”

“Girl’s name.”  He wondered how he knew that.

“According to the website it’s unisex, but ok.” She looked back at her phone.

“Sudarshan is nice…” She looked at him thoughtfully. “But you don’t look like a Sudarshan.

“I think I’ll call you Jamil. Jamil’s a nice name.”

“Jam…eel?”

“Jamil.  It’s a boy’s name, it means beautiful. All of those names do, at least according to the webpage.”

“Jam… Jame?”  _Something was very familiar._

“Jamie?” she said cautiously.

“Jamie.” He nodded. “That… sounds right.”

“This is like naming a cat.” She sighed, “Serious bizness.”

He blinked at her. _She was very strange._

She sat down on the bed. “You are one crazy tough dude, Jamie.”

“Yes.”

“I was kind of mad for a bit, but you’re pretty, and Emma says you got your mind put in a blender.”

He had absolutely no idea how to respond to that.

She sat down on the bed, leaned over, and kissed him.  _That… that was familiar?_ He tried to bring both arms up, but only the meat one moved. He kissed her back.

She sat back. “Huh. Well… you have some potential anyway.”

“My Arm won’t move.” He frowned at it. “It’s heavy.”

“Yeah, that would throw you off a bit.”  She looked thoughtfully at him. “You ever been on the subway?”

“Yeah.” Then he was confused. “Wait, a what?”

“You sound like a city boy, sometimes.”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Well, now that you’re up, I’ll call Tony and see if he can fix your arm.”

“Tony?”

“Tony Stark.”

“Target, low priority.”

“WOAH!  No.”

“No?”

“Okay,” she said, getting off the bed.  “Do you have a list of targets?”

“Yes, I wasn’t wiped after the last mission.”  He was absurdly grateful for that.

“Name’ em.”

“Priority target: Nicholas Fury, Director‑S.H.I.E.L.D. –“

“No.”

He blinked. “No?”

“Not currently a target.  We have a deal.”

“Target list priority was Nicholas Fury, then Steve Rogers, Tony Stark,‑“

“Stop.”

He stopped.

She smiled at him. A part of his mind said that was a VERY bad smile. “Change targeting parameters. Those individuals are allies, less valuable than me, but to be assisted if it can be done without too much trouble.”

He nodded slowly.

“Do you LIKE Hydra?”

“No.” He had a headache. He had a bad headache. “Nazi sons-a-bitches.”

“Yeah? Well Jamie… if anyone tries to use the old codes on you? The ones Emma changed? You have my full permission to kill them.”

He smiled. _That was wonderful!_ “Thank you, Ma’am.”

“Let’s see if we can work on some of your non-combat skills, though, Jamie.  It seems like you have some native talent there, you just need some practice.”

She moved his Arm into a bent position across his chest, and leaned over to kiss him again.  He felt an old memory in his arm and his lips, and he kissed her back.

“Oh yeah, Jamie… we’re gonna have fun.”

 


	5. Buffet Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Given that this is Fluffy, they had to end up at the food.

She helped him get dressed: black pants; black shoes‑sneakers; a black T shirt with a strange design on it; and a black sling for his Arm.  It had a full harness so it didn’t put all the weight on his neck: it helped a lot.

“You need a shave, Jamie.”

He nodded. She took him into the bathroom and watched him.  He looked at his reflection in the mirror and wondered if it would ever not be strange.

“Whatcha thinking?”

“My face is familiar, but not,” he answered automatically.

“Well, you’d been wearing that weird mask.”

He was done shaving. “Ready to comply.”

“C’mon.”  She walked him out‑out of the hospital wing; he’d never been this far.  There were a few people in maids uniforms and servants outfits, and a few guards. His hand itched for a gun.  He followed her to an elevator, and they went up.

She walked into a place that was expensive.  It had old wood furniture and carpets that he‑Jamie‑ was almost afraid to walk on.  She kept going; he followed. They went into a room with a buffet set out, and servants; there were a few people with plates, most of them well dressed, a few… not…. or not dressed much.

She walked up to the buffet and started picking things out. “Just tell them what you want.”

He stared; he didn’t even know what half of this WAS.  Those were eggs… that was sausages.  It was too many choices.

She had walked back. “Jamie? What’s the problem?”

“I do not know what to choose.” He wanted to hit something. “What should I have?”

One of the men, who had a half-naked woman  on his arm‑ part of Jamie  was assessing threat risks, the other part  just said “Asshole”‑ came up and snidely told him to move out of the way.

He was trying to decide what to do when his Handler‑Sandra? Fluffy?‑ spoke up, “Who the fuck are you?” She moved into his space.

Jamie felt his mouth pull up into a grin automatically.

“Shouldn’t you go back to your date?” The fellow was looking at her rudely.  That… was … wrong.

She thumbed at Jamie. “Right now, that’s him.  Now who the hell are you?”

The man shoved her aside. Jamie acted without thinking and kicked out his knees.  He was about to break his windpipe‑not having his Arm slowed him down a bit‑ when Fluffy very calmly said “Stop.”

He stopped. She patted him on the arm.  She smiled at him. _Good, she was pleased._

The man on the ground had screamed; the girl had screamed.  Everyone else was looking at them‑ _this was bad_.  He was going to have trouble killing them all without his Arm.

“So,” said Fluffy, ignoring the man on the ground and talking to the servant dishing out food‑who was pretending not to be looking at the fight‑“Jamie will have a high protein platter, but give him a veggie omelet and a bowl of fruit, too.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“You’re out of your mind!” the guy screamed, Jamie watched him warily. “I’ll have you arrested!”

“What happens in the Club stays in the Club,” Fluffy said calmly, taking Jamie by his Arm’s elbow and walking over to a table with their trays.

“Why isn’t anyone calling the police?” He looked around angrily. “AH!” he howled as he tried to move his leg.

A man wearing loose fitting pants‑and nothing else‑ drily commented, “Because Fluffy is right: what happens in the Club stays in the Club.  If you call the police, not only will you be banned for life, but all of us will say you started it.”

Fluffy wanted Jamie to sit down. He moved the chair so he could keep his back to the wall, and sit between her and the asshole.

 “So he can just attack me?” The guy was starting to shake.

Fluffy shrugged, “You started it when you told him to move, you escalated it when you shoved me. He’s my bodyguard: he defended me.  You got a problem with that, don’t start nothin’.”

“Won’t be nothin’,” Jamie finished the phrase.  He wondered why he knew that.

Fluffy smiled and patted his arm again. “Would you like an ambulance called, since you took a bad tumble down the stairs?” she looked over at the guy pleasantly.

He was still howling and starting to sweat‑ _shock_ ‑ and was demanding that they both be arrested.

“I believe your probationary period has just expired,” said a darker man, who’d been watching from the doorway.

“Hey, Roberto! Come over and meet Jamie.”

He nodded at some security guards and they dragged the man away, screaming and threatening.  Roberto looked the girl over; she stared at him with big eyes.

“She’s cute,” Fluffy said looking the half-naked girl over.

The man spoke to her, “Go with the guard, cooperate, and no one will hurt you.”  She nodded shakily and a guard took her away.

Jamie looked at the rest of the people in the room: a few looked shocked, most looked amused, and no one was doing anything.

“Not witnesses?” Jamie asked.

“Eat,” She said.  He started to eat‑ _fuel was important_. “What happens in the Club stays in the Club. Period.” She shrugged, “If he wanted to involve outsiders, an Inner Council member has to approve it.”

Roberto sat down‑ _too close._  Jamie glared at him.  He raised an eyebrow and moved slightly further away; Jamie went back to eating _.  This stuff was awesome_.

“Which, since we are two of the Inner Council,” said Roberto, “is kind of amusing. Who’s the new guard, Fluffy?”

“He’s mine, he’s a mission bonus!” she said cheerfully. “He’s called Jamie.”

“Nice moves.”

“I was too slow,” Jamie said unhappily. “I am used to my Arm.”

“What happened?” he asked Fluffy.

“He was working for my target, I guess… Hey, Jamie? Were you working for Pierce?”

“Yes. Mission Director Pierce,” he said around a mouthful of food.

“I read about that… wasn’t that supposed to be a QUIET job?” Roberto raised an eyebrow at her.

“It was also supposed to be one without mutant cyborg bodyguards.”

Roberto looked at him thoughtfully. “So how did you get him?”

“He didn’t die.”

“And?”

“And I brought him home and Emma said he was programmed a lot, and I had her re-key him.” She shrugged.  “He’s cute, and I think he’s from New York, even if he does talk in Russian a lot and have that weird star on his arm.”

“There are a lot of Russians in New York,” Roberto said thoughtfully. “But unless he’s a Macy’s Ad gone wrong, I doubt that’s where that ties in.”

Fluffy laughed.

“Macy’s…” Jamie said slowly.  _Images of parades, a girl, a kiss, his idiot friend going and getting pneumonia‑he’d almost died._

“Yeah, Jamie?”

“He got pneumonia, he almost died… we went to the parade.”  Jamie blinked.  _He was very thin, it was cold and wet, and he shouldn’t have gone._

Roberto looked at Fluffy; Fluffy shrugged. “It’s okay to remember, Jamie.”

He nodded. “That’s all, just… a picture.”

Fluffy shrugged at Roberto, “Emma says someone put his brain in a blender and hit puree.”

“What are you going to DO with him?”

“What?  He’s cute, and he’s a great bodyguard.”

Roberto just shook his head.

“Hey, Jamie?” Fluffy said suddenly.

“Yes?”

“Open your mouth.” He opened his mouth.  She put a strawberry covered in chocolate and whipped cream in it. “Try that.”

 _It was wonderful…_   He made a noise of happiness and Fluffy stared at him.

“Make that noise again?”

He looked confused, but tried to.

“Wait.” She got up and went back to the buffet.

He stood up _… conflict, I should guard her, but she told me to wait…_ He watched her from where he was.

She came back with a cup and a plate full of fruit and whipped cream.

“Here,” she said, handing him a cup.  It was covered in whipped cream and powder, and smelled like heaven. “Try that. Careful, it’s hot.”

He sat down when she did.  He tried the drink… his mind tried to re-boot _.  It was coffee, it was the best coffee he’d ever had, and chocolate, and whipped cream, and where had this BEEN his whole life?_

He realized he’d closed his eyes and was moaning.

“Oh, yeah,” Fluffy was grinning at him. “Keeping you was the best decision I ever made.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roberto was one of the people at the last "on stage" inner council meeting, but was wearing a mask and hanging back as he had just gotten in. he is Roberto DeCosta, aka Sunspot. his history went a bit differently, but his father, and he, are canon members of the Hellfire Club


	6. Come on pretty baby, kiss me deadly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> corresponds to Chapter 45 of "Will You Walk Into My Parlor"

Fluffy took him over to one of the sitting rooms in the Hellfire Club.  She ordered him to sit down. _God, he was pretty._

“Hey, Jamie? Do you hurt anymore?”

“No.”  He looked uncertain.

“Look, you’re pretty, but I need smart and pretty, not dumb and pretty. Dumb and pretty is easy.  Are you still in any pain?”

“Near my arm, and my stomach hurts when I eat.”

She nodded, “But it doesn’t hurt you to have me touch you?”

“No.”

She moved onto his lap. “Does this hurt?”

“No.”

“Good.” She kissed him. In this position, his arm was less of a hindrance.  He kissed back _.  It seemed like there was some real interest there, but… hmm…_ “Do you not like girls?”

“I like dames.” he said, and he flashed her the most utterly wicked “come and kiss me” smile she’d ever seen.  It distracted her enough that it actually took a few beats to realize he’d said “dames”.

“Do you?  You seem kind of hesitant, kissing me.”

He frowned and started to get that headachy look.

“Nope, none of that,” she said nipping at his jaw, and suddenly something must have rattled loose in his head because he pulled her in and gave her a kiss that made it very very clear he knew what he was doing.  He started working his way down her neck while she purred.

And then he stopped. _Fuck._   She looked up.  He was staring at her kind of frozen, looking… _actuall, he looked scared._

“Jamie?”

“Don’t…” He put his hand back to his side. He gulped.  Fluffy finally realized he looked like he was going to be punished.

“Don’t punish you?”

He nodded.

“Did they not like you to touch them?” _So, either no one had sex with him‑unlikely cause he was gorgeous‑ or they just didn’t want him being active or aggressive._

Very quietly, “No. I might damage them. I was to be used.”

 _Oh, yeah, mutant strength and a cyber arm…_ “So they touched you, but you couldn’t touch them?”

He had this sort of lost look. She knew that look: it bugged her. “Most didn’t. I am a Soldier, an Asset. Not my purpose.”

“But yeah, some of those kind of assholes always get off on power over someone who they shouldn’t be able to knock down, don’t they?”  She grinned.

“Yes.”

“Huh. Well, if you can’t get over that, it’s gonna frustrate me to death.”  She frowned. “Ok, first of all, you can touch. If I want you to stop, or not now, I’ll tell you.” He nodded. “Secondly, if you need to tap out, say so.” He looked utterly baffled.

“Tell me if something bothers you, or you don’t want to, or it hurts.”

“I can… not want to?” He suddenly grabbed his head and started whimpering. Fluffy slid off him, rolled over on the floor, and stood up.

“Man, you are all kind of messed up, aren’t you?  I thought I was messed up.  At least I killed the bastards.” She sighed, walked over and got the bottled water out of the cabinet, and handed it to him. “I’m going to call Tony. Let me know if you think of anything that will help.”

Fluffy pulled out her phone and dialed.

“Hi, Fluffy,” Tony still sounded a bit cautious. “What’s up?”

“Remember the mutant cyborg I picked up?”

There was a pause. “Yeah?”

“He’s up and around, so I need you to fix his cyber arm.”

“WHY do you want to fix the arm on a Hydra‑“

“He wasn’t voluntary, we found that out.  Emma says he had his brain worked over‑ like with a sledgehammer. Anyway, he’s not Hydra anymore, he’s mine.”

“You can’t OWN people, Fluffy.”

She got out an apple. “Sure you can. We gonna have this conversation again?”

“If he walks in here, and he doesn’t want to walk out with you, he doesn’t.”

She grinned, “Sure thing.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“Fine.  Better sooner than later. I don’t want to have him run into Steve: Captain America might not be able to stay calm around some kind of Hydra super soldier.”

“Awww… Pretty eyes?  He’s a love.”  Jamie looked up and she waved at him. “How do I come into the building with him?”

“Garage entrance.” He gave her Jarvis’ number. “Dial that when you get close, Jarvis will bring you in.”

“See ya!”

She turned and walked back to Jamie. “We’re going to get that Arm all fixed up.” She smiled down at him.

He tilted his head as if he was trying to decide how to react.  _Poor guy, he just didn’t understand the opportunities in front of him…_

“Once you’re all fixed up, Jamie… how do you feel about killing people and breaking things?” She curled up in his lap, laughing up into his confused eyes, “Like Hydra, and the guy who sent you on your last mission?”

Sudden understanding flashed across his face, and then his eyes went very hard, but his lips curved up in a smile, “Doll, that sounds like my kind of fun.”

“That’s good, because it’s sure mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once they walk into the Stark Industries building, you pretty much have to pick up the story there.


	7. Discovery Daft Punk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mirrored chapter to chapter 46 of Will You Walk Into My Parlor  
> NOTE: Character's opinions do not always reflect author's facts

The drive to the tower was interesting. Fluffy spent most of it watching Jamie, who spent most of it looking out the window, his expressions changing between flat nothing, a sort of lost look, and agitation.

She called in and got let into the garage entrance. Jamie was really twitchy.

“What’s wrong, Jamie?”

“He was targeted: there will be threats.”

“Yes, but we’ve been working to neutralize them.  It’ll be okay.”

He didn’t look convinced.

“Hey Jarvis? Can I call up? I need to give everyone a bit of a heads up.”

“Certainly, Miss Morgan.”

“Who is that?” Jamie almost growled.

“Supposedly an AI system– a computer.”

“Indeed I am, Miss Morgan.”

Fluffy just smirked, “Open hailing frequencies!”  There was a click and she called out,“Hiiiii! We’re here, do you guys have food? Should I order some?”

Loki’s voice answered, “There is fruit and things for the blender, and we can order in.”

“He has a metabolism like a blast furnace!” she said cheerfully. “Lots of protein.”  _Besides, you guys have good food._ “Anyway, like… Could you guys stay a bit clear of the elevators and not make any sudden moves near him? He’s still a bit twitchy.”

Jamie was frowning more and more at the elevator. He shook his head and stopped her from getting in.

 “It’s an elevator, Jamie; it doesn’t bite.”

 “It’s a trap; you shouldn’t get in it.” He sounded very certain.

 “They won’t trap me, Jamie.” _I don’t think they wil. Emma seemed certain about them believing in those bindings…_

“Stairs,” he said firmly.

Tony’s voice was incredulous, “That’s like seventy-eight floors, and it’s my elevator.”

 _Oh God, seventy-eight floors? I keep in shape, but JEEZ…_ “Jamie, honey… There’s food up there.”

“Nyet… No, they have to order it. There is not. There will be by the time we go up the stairs.” _Damn, he’s right._ “By the time you do, I would be faster.”

She huffed at him. _That was a low blow!_

Tony sounded all kinds of whiny, “It’s an ELEVATOR. It goes up to MY FLOOR.”

Jamie’s eyebrow went up then his face settled back to neutral. “Which is why it is trapped, Tony Stark. You were my third target.”

 _Shit, wait… and they had Hydra all over. Fuck, that might be a real problem_. She nodded slowly at Jamie.

 “What’s that?”  Some other voice‑ _Oh, Coulson: the one who was so fun to play with; pretending he wasn’t scared; pretending he wasn’t turned on.  His writing gave him away, if nothing else._

“Nicholas Fury, Primary Target; Steve Rogers, second; Tony Stark, third,” Jamie said in his “work” voice. “The simplest way to take him out would be the dedicated elevator.  My charge does not get in.”

Fluffy sighed _. He was right, but seventy-eight floors?_  “Can… Can we take a DIFFERENT elevator to a floor just a few floors down? And then walk up?”

He didn’t look happy, but he nodded,  “Yes.”

She called up an explanation, “Sorry! No point getting a bodyguard and not letting him work. See you in a few.”

There was a click as the line hung up; she was fairly certain it was for effect.

“May I suggest the equipment elevator? It is highly secured and monitored to allow for Mr. Stark’s deliveries,” Jarvis said.

Jamie frowned, but nodded. They went up.

 Fluffy was watching everyone as she came in.  _Yeah, more of the crew from Knit Night was here_. She wanted to watch them react, now that they had seen what she was….

She almost giggled as she realized her mistake: _everyone was watching Jamie, because he had his threat face on._

Coulson was holding oh-so-very still, but she caught his eyes widen.  _Yeah, I bet you’re hot for him: you live on danger, don’t you, suit?_ She wondered if he was interested in guys or girls– or if it mattered– but MAN was it obvious he lived for the adrenalin.  She wondered if Tony knew how much alike…

 _Woah._   Tony was looking at Jamie like he was having a nightmare; he actually backed up into Loki.  Loki was just being puzzled right until he made contact‑ O _h, touch telepathy_.

Carol had made herself scarce. Darcy was busy looking Jamie over for more normal reasons.  Fluffy idly wondered what it would be like to have both of them in bed.  _Something to think about, once Jamie recovered more._

 “Hi! So this is Jamie, and he’s my new bodyguard,” Fluffy said, putting on her cheerful voice. “Don’t make any threatening moves; the trip across town and the elevator have him a bit twitchy.”  She came around to his side and leaned on the arm in a sling. “So, I finally get to meet Thor, huh?”

“Lady Fluffy?” Thor stood up and _OH MY GOD did he have muscles, and the photos didn’t do his ass justice. I may have to mug Darcy for details_. “An unusual name. Indeed I am–“ he started forward.

Jamie swung her behind him and GROWLED at Thor.  

“Jamie, people can shake hands…” Fluffy soothed at him.

 “He is attempting to fulfill his duties, Lady Fluffy, even if he is… confused.” Thor nodded. “An admirable attempt.”

 _Oh GOD this guy was the real choir boy, apple pie, naïve innocent– not Steve_. “Yeah, sorry about that, some jackass tried to shove me around at breakfast, so he’s kind of defensive.”

Coulson cleared his throat, “What happened to him?” _Oh, I want to do horrible wonderful things to you until that voice cracks. Damn, I shouldn’t have cut Emma off when she tried to tell me. Physically, this guy is meh, but…_

“He lived.”

“Unfortunately,” Jamie said grimly. “I am used to my Arm.”

Darcy took her eyes off Jamie long enough to look over at Fluffy. “You mentioned he had pretty eyes.”

“Doesn’t he though?”  _And you can only have him if I let you, and I bet it’s driving you nuts._

“Nice ass, too.”

“Yeah.” _My ass._

She felt the shift in Jamie’s body language, and glanced up.  _Oh, yeah, he had that “Sex on a platter” look again.  Once he was a bit better, they were going to be irresistible together._

 He was looking Darcy over in an appreciative fashion. Fluffy laughed.

“He’s a good kisser, too,” Fluffy smirked at her. _You want some? You gotta play with me, too_ …  “But Hydra has him too messed up to do much more than that.”

She stopped playing, with regret: they needed to get to work. “So? Food? And his Arm got fried.”

Tony was still looking wary at him, although obviously the whole “Let me smile your panties off” thing was more in his usual skill set. “Right, uh, he does know I’ll have to touch him, right?”

“Given up on trying to convince him to run off and join your boy band?” she smirked. Obviously since right now Tony wanted Jamie gone. She wondered how long that would hold.

Tony sighed and spoke back to Loki, “Send food to the lab?”

“Of course,” Loki nodded. 

Loki looked solemnly at Fluffy. “YOU are responsible for him, and that includes the bindings.”

 _Duh_. “Yeah, I know.  He’s too messed up to consent to them, though.  He doesn’t even know his own name.”

A geeky, but older, lady spoke up, “I thought his name was Jamie?”

“That’s just because he didn’t like Jamil,” Fluffy grinned as she recognized the woman. “You’re Doctor Foster, cool!  No, I suggested Jamil and he preferred Jamie. It’s like naming a cat.” _So you’re what gets Thor off? Huh. So he likes smart._

She waved at them all and Tony walked them out.  Jamie kept himself between her and the Avengers, and was watching Tony like a hawk.

Tony walked ahead, practically twitching, as if Jamie had a knife at his neck.

_Yeah, Tony… the “poor guy” you want to rescue? Is a lot less cuddly in real life, isn’t he?_

_People always think you can just swoop in and rescue the victims, and then it’s all roses and happily ever after._

_Heroes._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://archiveofourown.org/works/5472677/chapters/20997812


	8. Voyager

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding over shawarma and repairs

They had a bit of a fuss when they got to Tony’s lab.

Fluffy was so busy staring at it that she missed the first twitches from Jamie. Tony had turned to look back at them, and his eyes widened at about the same time she felt the arm around her tighten. The muscles near his metal arm tightened, and his mundane arm started to hurt across her shoulders.

She glanced up: his face was blank.

She held a hand up flat to Tony‑ _wait, don’t move_ ‑ and calculated fast.  She made a decision:

“…*…” she let a tiny, desperate squeak come out of her mouth, and slid limply down against his arm. He tossed her away without consideration or hesitation.

“Fluffy?!” Tony was backing away from Jamie while Jamie was swiveling his head in a menacing fashion and working his jaw.

Fluffy bounced to her feet. “LOOK AT ME!”

Jamie spun, glaring death at her– PRIORITY OVERRIDE: DO NOT HARM– and collapsed, clutching his head.

Tony could only stare as Fluffy walked over and crouched down just out of Jamie’s reach.

“Cats rule, Jamie. Don’t make me use it.”

“{No, please! Don’t!}”

“I’m not them, pretty eyes,” she said calmly. She could see Tony moving carefully off to the side. “But I don’t like getting surprised, okay? Can you stand up?”

“Da. I am… I obey.” He stood up shakily.

“That was… one hell of a panic attack,” Tony said, looking like he might be having one himself.

“Jamie? Look at me.” He did. “Tony isn’t going to hurt you.  You belong to me, I won’t let him.”

Jamie nodded shakily, and the professional face settled back over him. “Don’t…”

“Don’t what, Jamie?  Remember what I said? You can ask.”

“Don’t wipe me again.”

“What?!” Tony yelped.

“Hydra. They went through his brain with a blender, remember?” she said idly at Tony. “Apparently, they used electrodes on the head for punishment; he kind of freaked out at my kitty ears.”  She took Jamie’s hand and tugged him into facing her, so he was looking out– at the door, not the lab.

“I don’t want to wipe you, Jamie. I told you, remembering is okay.”

He nodded.

“I’m going to make you go to sleep now, though.”

He tensed up. She reached up and kissed him.  He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her back, pushing her up against the wall, desperately invading her mouth.  She completely forgot about drugging him until he took a panicked gasp and tried to pull away. She put a hand up to his neck and watched his eyes roll back as he slipped to the floor.

“Those Hydra folks really fucked up a damn good kisser.  I’m going to kill them for that,” she said frowning down at Jamie, crumpled on the floor.

She looked up: Tony was just staring at her like she was an alien.

“So? You gonna help me put him on the table?”

“What HAPPPENED?” Tony sputtered, and robotic arms started moving into place.  A spare Iron Man suit came marching over, faceplate up and completely empty, and helped to put Jamie on the table.

“You know that’s creepy?” Fluffy said, waving at the empty suit.

“What happened?” he repeated.

She leaned back against one of the other pieces of equipment, and dropped the cute act. “They owned him. Hydra.  They tortured him, and they broke him, and they probably drugged him a lot, and I DOUBT he got that arm put on with a signed consent form, Tony, any more than you got your ‘pacemaker’.”  She watched him flinch. “And he thought the electrode for my cat ears was for ‘correction’. What does that tell you?”

“A lot,” he whispered.

“He walked into someplace and had a flashback.” She shrugged. “Emma didn’t dare do ANYTHING much to his mind: it’s too fragile.”

“I thought… I thought she might have made him… stay with you.”

“She didn’t have to. He already had programs in his head– from them.  All she did was re-key the locks. I own the keys.”

Fluffy watched him, saw the horror flash over his face. “Yeah, Tony… THEY took some guy– I don’t know where he’s from originally, but I have some guesses he used to be S.H.I.E.L.D., or CIA, or something, once upon a time– and they turned him into their killing machine. Raped him too, of course, but that’s par for the course.” She shrugged. “He expects to be punished for touching me, or kissing back, or using his hands… but that’s just because they beat fighting back out of him.”

Tony was standing there with a couple of tools in his hands; it looked like he was trying to wring them for oil or something.

“Like I said, rich man, I can do anything I want to him.” She got a squeeze of yogurt out of her bag and started on it. “Luckily what I want is to get his arm repaired, see if he’s as good at anything else as he is at kissing, and slaughter some Hydra brainwashing goons– or at least watch while he does it.”

“What happened to you?” Tony was just staring at her with that annoying mix of pity and terror.

“Same thing that happened to you, Tony: people hurt me, I won, and they’re dead.  I just had a younger start, and no one helping me out.”

Tony stood there for a long time. “I’m… I’m sorry. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“So? The drugs won’t last more than a few more minutes, but I’m betting you have a way to knock people out.”

“Yeah, I upgraded some weapons…” Tony walked over and touched something to Jamie’s neck: he groaned slightly and twitched, then went still. “Keep him out, Jarvis?”

A bunch of monitors and leads snacked over and attached to his head.

Tony took a deep breath; he was shaking. “Jarvis will monitor his brain waves and keep him asleep, or at least tell us if he wakes up.

“Good.”

“You… He…”

“Sounds like?”

“He doesn’t know who he is?”

“He doesn’t know who he WAS.  They called him Asset, or Soldier.  He didn’t even have a name.” She sighed, “Tony? Whoever he was?  He’s gone.  I’ve let him know it’s okay to remember, and he does remember a few things, here and there– like Jamie was sort of familiar–and he knew someone who got pneumonia… but some of it is probably from whatever they had him doing, like you being on the kill list.” She looked at him thoughtfully, “I countermanded that.”

“You… sound really different when…”

She purred at him, “Kitty Kats come in grown up versions, too.” She looked at him from under her eyelashes, leaning backwards.  _If only I had a tail to swish, this would be perfect._

“You know that’s creepy?” he smiled sort of nervously and waved at her, mimicking her comments about the suit.

She giggled and dropped the catwoman act. “Yeah, it’s exhausting, too.”

“You really want me to fix his arm?”

“Yeah. Well, I want you to REPLACE it, but I figure, for right now? Fixing it will have to do.”

He started working on the arm. Carol came down with a delivery of shawarma, looked green at the work, and left.  Fluffy shrugged. _People were weird_. Eventually, Fluffy had eaten enough to pay attention to the work again, but Tony hadn’t eaten.

“Eat your food.”

“Busy.”

“Eat your food, or I will puree it and feed it to you by a nasal gastric tube.” 

He jerked up and stared at her. “You wouldn’t.”

“Guess.”

He took a break to eat, and cleaned up.  Jarvis text messaged her a “thank you”. She texted back a heart.

Tony went back to work.  Jamie’s arm looked weird all open and splayed apart like that.  She pulled up her phone and took a few pictures.

“Doesn’t bug you?” Tony asked, working on some of the circuitry.

“No.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I need someone else to help replace my reactor. It takes small hands, and Pepper isn’t happy with me.”

“Not sure how great an idea that would be, given what I can do.”

“I don’t even know what you do… Oh, get eye shades, and a pair for him.” He waved at a cabinet.

She came back with them, and put his on, then hers.  Tony started working with something that made tiny bright sparks.

“I can generate an EMP pulse. I can do microwaves. I used to practice popping microwave popcorn.” She shrugged. “I can cook people in place, or explode all the water in a room. A few other things like that.”

Tony had stopped working and was staring at her.

She smirked, “So, like I said, my powers have nothing to do with being a cat girl– that’s a lifestyle choice.”

He went back to working quietly.  She went back to playing games on her phone, and reading more of JustASuit’s fanfic. 

Eventually, Tony said, “Almost done, and I got the schematics and scans I’ll need to work out the replacement.” He looked at her. “You need to know some things, and then I have a question.”

“Ok, what?”

“This is insanely advanced technology, but… I recognize a lot of the parts.  This is the advanced super science Hydra had in the war. This arm is OLD.  It’s been repaired, and parts have been upgraded, but… whoever this guy is? Either HE’S old, or they transplanted the Arm onto him after the prior user died.”

Her mind started working fast. “He uses some really old phrases sometimes; I thought maybe he was quoting movies…” She looked thoughtfully at Tony. “Some mutants age really slowly; like, Wolverine is supposedly old.”

Tony nodded. “Well, I can’t tell about him, only the parts.”  He waved at a small bowl with a few bits in it. “The arm had an integrated tracker: I pulled it. He also has several embedded in his body, but scans show they are well and truly fried.”

“Can you fix the one you pulled out of his arm?”

“No,” Tony snorted.

“Can you find out what frequency it should be on, and fake it?”

Tony blinked. “Probably? Why?”

She smiled. “Because I think it’s nice to invite people over for their own murder. Cozy.”

Tony stared at her for a moment and then a sort of vicious grin flickered around his face. “That’s…”

“Yeah, I’m brilliant.”

He nodded, “You are.”

“And evil.”

“I doubt that, actually.”

She pouted, and Tony laughed. “We’re neither of us heroes, but I don’t think we’re evil.”

“So what question did you have?”

“Obviously he didn’t pick the t-shirt, and I get the feeling it means something or you would have gotten a blank one.”

“You don’t GET it?!”

“Techno synth pop isn’t my thing.”

She snorted. “Look up the Daft Punk album, ‘Discovery’: it was the soundtrack to the anime film ‘Interstella  5555’. That’s the logo for that album.”

“Gonna give me a clue, Fluffy?”

“Wikipedia or YouTube,” she snorted. “Let’s wake him up, and he needs to eat.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> InterStella 5555 is in fact an animation movie with no dialog and few sound effects, where the story line is entirely supported by the music on the album "Discovery". Voyager is one of the songs, for a specific point in the movie,


	9. welcome wagon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie gets to show off a bit

 

Fluffy was careful with him when he woke up.  He looked a bit disoriented.

“I’m called Fluffy; my name is Sandra. I call you Jamie; you didn’t know your name.  The bad guys called you Asset or Soldier.  I brought you to Tony Stark to have your cyber Arm fixed.  It should be functional now.  Do you remember?”

Tony was looking a bit pained at her.  Jamie blinked several times and said quietly, “You didn’t wipe me.”

“No. I will never wipe you.  Remembering is okay.” She saw Tony look intently at the tools he was putting away–probably getting himself put together. _I wonder what actually went on in Afghanistan._

“I remember you. I remember coming here. I remember… pieces from before.” Jamie paused. “Before Pierce.”

“Cool. Anyway your Arm is functional, and there is food.”  He brightened up at food because Jamie was a sensible person.

He ate a bit too fast; Fluffy had to slow him down a bit.

Tony nodded, “Try not to eat until your stomach hurts, you’ll just throw up. Been there, done that.”  Tony grabbed something out of a mini fridge. “Here, concentrated calories.  It was developed for Captain America.”

“Why do you have something like that?” Fluffy asked him curiously.

“My dad was one of the people who created the man, remember?  Once Steve was back I redid the recipe.” He shrugged. “Also it’s good when I have long lab days.” He looked thoughtful. “Well it’s good when you add fruit, otherwise it’s sort of bland.”

He looked thoughtful. “Split one?”  She smiled at him– she even meant it. _Tony was a rich bastard and always had been, but he was okay._ They split one. It was bland, with fruit it was probably okay though.

Jarvis told them there were more people in the arriving Quinjet than they thought.

“Hydra?” Fluffy asked.

“Probably.”

“Let Jamie in on it.” She looked at him thoughtfully and decided to be blunt. “It’s his turn to kill some of the bastards who had him.  Might as well start here.”

Tony nodded. “Catch up…” He left to go start talking to people.

She watched Jamie go through what looked like a kata or a function test.

“Come on, Jamie.”

When they came in, Jamie was still flexing and moving his Arm. People kept staring at it.  It was pretty cool.

 “HI! So Jamie gets to show off?”

Loki looked curious at her. “Do you want him to?”

She nodded at him firmly and grinned. “Oh hell yeah!  The closest I’ve seen to watching him work was an idiot at the breakfast buffet.”

“We could certainly hang back to allow him to test himself against the foe.” Loki looked at Thor.

Thor looked like a golden retriever who had just been told they were going   to play fetch… again… “Indeed! Against such ordinary opponents it would be more sporting.” _Seriously, all he needed was the ears and a tail. Gotta get that guy into a cosplay._

“Great!” Fluffy leaned back into Jamie and looked up at him. “Jamie? You get to take out some Hydra goons!”

He smiled. He ACTUALLY smiled; it hit his eyes and everything.  He also didn’t look conflicted or hesitant or anything. She shivered happily against him.

“Just remember we need to ask them a few questions, so we would like them alive if possible.” Coulson sighed.

 _OOOoh right. Alive._ “Yeah, that’s why you only want me on backup.” Fluffy figured they needed to know. “I basically go right from flyswatter to tac-nuke.”

 “Uh, Fluffy?”  _Brucie!  Hmm... right. Turns green, smashed Harlem. God he was adorable._

“BRUCIE!!!!!!” She hugged him and looked over at Jamie. “THIS is Bruce! I like him.” _Ally._

Jamie looked dubious, but she saw him nod slowly.

 _Oh, right, Bruce wanted something._ She looked up at him. “Yes?”

“I was wondering if you know what the energy output you generate is?”

“Nope. Never had any way to measure it.”

“We do have testing ability in my labs,” Tony nodded, “but not right now. Right now we have to get to the roof.”

“You coming Bruce?” If he was going to go green and smush stuff she might need to rethink Jamie being there.

“I’m stand-by only.  Um… Big and green tends to cause a lot of property damage, and Quinjets are expensive.” _Oh, good._

“Right.” Tony nodded. “Hey, Jarvis? Give the audience a good view.”

“Of course, Sir.” Holographic displays instantiated and flat screens un-folded around the room, showing views of the roof. _Oh my GOD that was cool._

“Standby folks will get their view screens just off the roof access.” Tony grinned. “Showtime!”

They headed up.

Fluffy was hella impressed with Tony suiting up. She’d always thought that was like enhanced for the public demos.  Jamie looked a bit grudgingly impressed, probably glad he wasn’t a target right now.

Iron Man went to fly around and look casual. She set up with Jamie.

“Jamie? We need some alive for questioning, so I won’t be fighting unless I have to. Normal people don’t survive what I do.” He nodded. “Remember what I said about your old triggers: they can’t hurt you, but you can hurt them.” She gave him a quick kiss for luck and they settled into position.

The Quinjet landed and so did Iron Man– he put up his visor and waved.

Natasha came out first, followed by some executive dweeb.  She glanced at Tony and over at Fluffy.  She moved off to the side. Fluffy whispered, “She’s on our side.” She felt Jamie’s hand flex on her hip.

Last one out was Clint who closed up the Quinjet. “So’s the last guy.”

“Hey Clint, you remember Fluffy, right?” Tony called out.

Everyone’s attention turned to her, and she stretched up against Jamie, making sure she blocked the view of him, and giving them a REAL good look at her. “CLINT!!!! How’s my favorite pair of shoulders?”

Clint wasn’t grinning as he looked at the shadow behind her, but he quickly put on a grin for the audience. “Fluffy! How’s my kinky fangirl?” _Oh man, good looking AND smart, he just totally distracted some of those guys. Dweeb dude looked suspicious, but… yeah he was scared._

Tony smiled at them, and it was SUCH a phony-Tony smile Fluffy almost started giggling. “Fluffy is an old friend of mine.”

“Oh, hey... Let me introduce you! Jamie? Clint and Natasha are allies, I don’t know these other guys. Why don’t we say hi?” and  she rolled off him to the side.

Jamie stepped forward. “Hi.”

Fluffy watched the reactions, readying a power blast just in case. _Clint was startled and defensive–so Tony hadn’t gotten a warning to them– but Natasha… Oh that was interesting, she gasped and rolled for cover. So she knew something about Jamie that Clint didn’t? Yeah, we gotta TALK spy-girl. Clint played_ _follow the leader and rolled out of the way behind cover.  So no friendlies in the line of fire anymore–awesome!_

 Their team leader stood up  straighter and snapped out some words in bad Russian  and, from the way Jamie stiffened, that must be the Hydra codes that Emma rekeyed.  Fluffy couldn’t help it: she CACKLED.   _Oh my GOD it was funny watching someone pull a weapon they didn’t know was full of blanks._

 She managed to say, “Jamie?  I think we want that one alive. You can kill the rest,” and Jamie started moving.

“NOT SITWELL!” Tony shouted, throwing a spotlight on the dweeb.

“That one lives too!” Fluffy shouted, but she had no idea if Jamie even heard her.

It was stunning. For a moment she felt actual fear watching Jamie move that fast. She was REALLY lucky she’d been at a distance and that her first shot at Pierce’s house had hurt him.  She was glad she hadn’t known how fast he was: she wouldn’t have risked him getting back up– wouldn’t have kept him.

And she would have missed this… and the noises he made over coffee and whipped cream.

Fluffy stood out of arms reach of Jamie until the combat high let him see her. “That was awesome!”

He started looking like he had one of those headaches; well, she knew how to fix that. “No headaches, pretty eyes, you did GOOD.”

She reached up and put her arms around his neck… and he reached down and picked her up into a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her with no hesitation at all, and held her against him with both arms, and _Oh he SO knew how to kiss._

She wrapped her legs around his waist and took some of the weight off his arms.  His right arm started moving down her back to her ass– a bit tentatively, maybe.

She moaned into his kiss and tilted her head back.  He was looking down at her with some flickers of hesitation, and he had real EXPRESSION on his face: he looked worried, but interested.

“That was fantastic,” she said quietly up at him. Then she grinned, “The killing people, too.”

He grinned back down at her with that crooked smile.

_Best decision ever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this mirrors chapter 48 of Will you walk into my parlor.


	10. Picking Up The Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> corresponds to Chapters 49-51 of Will You Walk Into My Parlor, more or less  
> Jamie's POV

Jamie followed his handler– _no, she wasn’t like them, but she was his handler_ – down into the labs.  It wasn’t good to see people strapped in: it made him remember… He didn’t want to remember.

The red haired woman had known him, and she had been familiar. All his instincts were screaming that she was dangerous– he should kill her to protect his handler– but she said they were allies… He wished he could remember.

_“I won’t wipe you.”_

She hadn’t. She hadn’t even punished him when he had been a problem in Tony’s lab, she’d just… she’d threatened him with the control keys…  N _o. No, she really hadn’t, had she_? She’d pulled on his leash enough to stop him.  His old handlers would have dropped him and wiped him. His Arm was functional and Tony was talking about making him a new one.

 _Why was Tony familiar? He had been a target, but that wasn’t it_.

Rumlow…. Rumlow was familiar, but that he remembered. He’d been with Pierce. He remembered the look on the man’s face: he would have wanted to have the Asset subject to him.  He didn’t think Pierce would have allowed it, but perhaps if rewarding him led to increased loyalty… The Asset was often pleased to serve, as it kept him out of the cryo-tubes longer.

_Not Asset anymore–Jamie. I have a name, now. She even let me choose._

He listened without thinking, letting information fill in around him until Fluffy– _handler_ – spoke about him.

She had been feeding him again; he got the impression it meant more actual affection than her kissing did.

 “He’s remembering bits and pieces,” she said.  “It’s possible he’ll eventually remember you, but…“ She looked up at Jamie, “Do you remember her? It’s ok either way, Jamie. I’m not mad.”

_Oddly enough, I believe you._

 “No.” _I don’t remember, but… familiar?_   “I think this is the Black Widow? Natasha Romanov?”

“Yes,” she said.   _Her posture was less tense, but she was still dangerous._   He wished he was between her and Fluffy, instead of Fluffy being in his lap.

“I was briefed on individuals I might encounter in my mission when I was awakened this time. I was told about you, but I was not given instructions–yet.”

The man– _Clint_ – asked her, “So, Nat? What do you know about HIM?” _His attitude spoke of them being close– he was her commander, but not by much._

Natasha glanced at the suited man– _Coulson: both Clint and Natasha deferred to him, but there was tension there_ \- “Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists; the ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years.”

Coulson frowned, “Fifty?” _A memory of cold, and ice…._

Tony looked around and said, “The Arm is original Hydra make– probably World War Two era– as I said.  I can’t say anything about Jamie, but his Arm is over fifty.”

Jamie tensed. _War, combat, falling, surgery, a train…_

Fluffy made soothing noises at him and he relaxed in spite of it all. She curled up smaller on his lap. “He does use some weird turns of phrase.”

Coulson looked at Natasha, “So how do YOU know this is him?”

Natasha sighed, “He shot me.”

Jamie shook his head, offended. “If I shot you, you would be dead.” _I don’t miss.  I would not be valuable if I missed.  I can never fail._

She smiled, “You weren’t aiming at me.  Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot at my tires near Odessa: we lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but you were there. I was covering my engineer, so you shot him straight *through* me.”

 _Oh.  Not a failure, then._ He found himself wondering why he hadn’t killed her in any case _? I suppose that was why I was wiped: for failing to get rid of a witness._

Natasha nodded. “For real: straight through. After that, I tried to go after him–or at least find out more–but it was a dead end, as if he's a ghost story.”

Everyone looked at him. He shook his head. “It must be from before.”

Coulson asked, “What’s the first thing you remember this time?”

“Waking up in the lab,” He remembered the laboratory, the technicians, most of them uncaring–he was an object– a few with attentive eyes he had learned to dread.  “Being given the mission brief. Reporting to Director Pierce.” He paused. _Fluffy would want to know_.  “I saw that man, the one who used the codes first– he was at the lab.”

Fluffy stroked his chest in a fashion he was certain was meant to reassure him. He went back into his thoughts, memories touching at the corner of his mind.

_A red haired woman, a rope, a fall, a car… He had a mission, but he could spare her. They thought he had failed, they wiped him… He hadn’t failed, he’d CHOSEN…._

He was brought back from his thoughts when Bruce – _Dr. Banner_ – came in with Agent Sitwell.  Sitwell appeared to be terrorized but only minimally damaged.  Fluffy asked him to restrain him, which turned out to be pathetically easy. _Coward_. He wanted to break his neck.

He watched carefully, keeping his expression blank.  _Bruce had hurt Sitwell, had scared him. Fluffy liked him, though.  Would she loan me to him?_   _He didn’t want to be loaned to anyone again_.

_Again?_

_Standing-kneeling- a group of men, and a woman with a whip, taking turns… proving his compliance._

As the others talked about submission and dominance, ropes and play, images–no, not images; more memories– flashed through his mind:

_A woman looking up at him from a bed, “Gonna make me, soldier?” said with a smirk. Her name had been Anna, she was a dancer…_

_Being a prisoner of war, with some of his men, and the guards forcing themselves on some of them.  Being held down, shoved into, being thankful to be chosen for the experiments because it meant that stopped–then wishing he’d died. Punk kid, what was he doing here?_

They were talking about brainwashing, conditioning….

_Searing agony. “Compliance will be rewarded, you will comply.” Rusted, Longing…_

_They had plans for these people_.  He wouldn’t let that happen to them– _better to die, much better_.

“That’s why I was relieved you were dead: I wouldn’t have to make that call on you,” Agent Sitwell was saying. “I told Pierce you would never be a good recruit. I was just glad… just glad I wouldn’t ever have to shoot you.  I don’t think I could.”

 _Oh_. Jamie found himself pitying the man, just a little.

Fluffy asked him, “Could YOU have been converted? Brainwashed?”

_Yes. Yes, of course he could have._

Agent Sitwell answered, “I doubt it. I was Hydra before I was S.H.I.E.L.D. I suppose it’s possible my memories have been altered, but I don’t think so.” _You wouldn’t think so. I only remembered sometimes._

 Sitwell looked at Fluffy, then at Jamie, then back. “Uh, who are you again?” he asked Fluffy.

“Fluffy! Hellfire Club assassin.”

“What?” Sitwell stared at her, “You aren’t joking? YOU killed Pierce?”

Jamie retreated behind the Asset’s mask.   _It was funny, wasn’t it?  This cheerful little thing?  So kind, so happy, and she was lethal…_

“That does seem to be a common response,” Coulson nodded. “No, she’s serious. She’s responsible for the explosion at Pierce’s home, and,” he glanced at Jamie, “acquiring the Winter Soldier.”

_She acquired the Winter Soldier… but she let me be Jamie._

He had a moments panic and retreated into structure. The world around him faded to patterns and obedience.

_He couldn’t afford to have affection, or concern.  They would destroy her, or worse, make him destroy her, just to prove they could._

_He remembered a girl, remembered hurting her, she had been a reward, and then when they saw that he became fond of her, tried to be gentle, he was ordered to kill her._

_A memory of laboratories, of cold men in white coats._

_They made me The Winter Soldier, the Asset, Soldat._

_They would die for that._


	11. Images of Sorrow, Pictures of Delight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title continues from "Home By The Sea". Mirrors Chapter 52, 53 of Will you Walk into my parlor  
> “Though she be but little, she is fierce!”

Jamie was snapped out of his reverie when he heard Fluffy ask, “What about Captain America?”

_Captain America… He was a target… Why was that so familiar?_

“As another super soldier, they anticipated using the same conditioning they used on the Winter Soldier,” Sitwell was saying.

Clint’s asked, “ANOTHER super soldier?”

Sitwell nodded, “Apparently the Winter Soldier is the prototype for Hydra’s super soldier program, and the most successful.”

_Vials of serum._

_He’d helped them acquire vials of serum to create more super soldiers._

_Jamie remembered a car… and he’d seen Tony. Tony stumbled out of the car and I killed him… but it wasn’t Tony? Howard? Yes, Howard Stark… He had to get the vials, the formula, and eliminate witnesses. There had been two witnesses, it was a successful mission. He’d retrieved the vials and Hydra had created more Assets._

_Howard Stark.  He’d known him, but he didn’t remember._

_That was Tony’s father…_

He suddenly knew why he’d never fought being wiped after the first few times, because he remembered.  He didn’t want to be Jamie, he didn’t want to be Bucky, he didn’t want to remember.

_He was an Asset. Assets didn’t have feelings. Assets didn’t have guilt._

He looked up. They were walking into the lab where he’d been created, and the scientists were doing something to his arm with knives. _If he could stop them then none of this would happen…_

A distant part of his mind thought that the scientists had gotten a lot faster, then there was a flare of green and nothing.

~

“I’m called Fluffy; my name is Sandra. I call you Jamie; you didn’t remember your name, but Jamie sounded familiar.  The bad guys called you Asset or Soldier.  I brought you to Tony Stark to have your cyber Arm fixed.  Hydra tried to get you back, you killed some and we captured some. You met a bunch of people.  You just had a problem and attacked people, but I don’t think you know what you did.  Do you remember?”

Fluffy had said this at least three times since Jamie’s eyes had opened.  He had just stared up at the ceiling blankly. This time he closed his eyes for longer than a blink.

“I hope you’re listening because I’m getting hoarse.” She sighed. “Want one of those super soldier shakes?”

“Take me back and wipe me,” Jamie said, and his voice shook.

“Uh… You WANT to be wiped?” _Shit, this must be bad._

“I have done things… I shouldn’t have. I don’t wanna remember.” _And his accent was sliding around from Slavic to Brooklyn. Crap._

“Well, just now you kind of flipped on Loki and Carol, but they were sort of carving up Rumlow with a knife so–“

“Who?” He sat up, frowning. “That happened? That was Rumlow?”

“Yeaaaaah…? They were questioning him? You flipped.”

He blinked very confusedly at her. “Oh. I thought it was me.”

“Jamie? Pretty eyes? Can you maybe make this make sense for me? I don’t get it.”

“The scientists… were operating on me, to make me…”

“You were seeing what happened to you?” _Yeah, lab coats, knives. I am a SHITTY owner._

“Yes, and the others.  The ones I helped them make.”

Fluffy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ok, what ACTUALLY happened was that we walked in to find out where the lab was, you saw Loki and Carol working on Rumlow, and you flipped.  Loki did some VERY sexy fighting and you both looked REALLY awesome, and then he magicked you to sleep, and we brought you back to the small lab, and I waited for you to wake up.”

“Did I hurt anyone?”

“No.” She held up a hand.  “I fucked up. I should have realized you were going to not cope well, and you were stressed. It’s my responsibility to look after you.”  She sat on his lap, and grabbed his t-shirt. “It is YOUR responsibility to tell me if things get bad as soon as you realize it so I can get you out so this doesn’t happen again. CLEAR?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He was staring at her with his eyes gone all big and adorable.

“Now, we do not attack our allies, you got that?”

“No, Ma’am. Yes, Ma’am.”

“We only smack them around a little if they’re IDIOTS, not otherwise, clear?”

He gave her that crooked grin again. “I wish you could have met him.”

~

She was sitting on his lap, with her fist in his shirt, telling him to straighten up, mister or else! And it was the most comforting thing in the world somehow. And then she said something about smacking people around for being idiots…

 

_He was standing there with a black eye and a bloody nose, “I can handle myself!”_

_“You gotta be kidding me! You’re bleeding all over your shirt and got a black eye and we’re late already!”_

_“What d’you  want me to do? God damn bullies!”_

_“And you’re an idiot, Stevie. If I let them smack you around a bit more do you think it would help?”_

“Now, I already gave them some of my food to make up for this, Mister, but you still need to apologize.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He lost some of the smile. “I don’t like what I remember.”

She got up off him. “So?”

“So what do I do?” He felt lost as he stood up. “They always wiped me when it got to be too much.”

She looked up at him and she wasn’t smiling: she looked serious. “You apologize if you can, you bribe people if you have to, you kill all the sons of bitches you can get your hands on, and you pretend it doesn’t hurt until no one’s looking.”

That hit him like a punch to the gut.  He stared down at her. “Talking from experience?”

“Yeah. Now come on, you get to apologize to Loki and Carol. Rumlow told us the address to the lab, so next we go there and kill people and break things.”

“You… You really aren’t going to…?”

“I’ll kick your ass into next Tuesday if you don’t mind your manners and apologize, and then help out on the mission.” She frowned, “That incudes telling me when you are not able to SAFELY and RELIABLY accomplish something.”

“You’re awful fierce for a little thing. You remind me of… people.” _Images of a blond boy in a torn shirt with newspaper stuffed in his shoes, of a brunette woman facing down an entire unit full of rough and tumble men, of a little redhead in a gingham dress…_

“Though she be but little, she is fierce!”  Fluffy said cheerfully. “Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream. Best quote in the whole play… Never fuck with the short girls.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In The Winter Soldier, Bucky was out of cryo suspension for much less than a week(the movie spans 3 days) AND was wiped partway through.  
> In this reality, he has now been awake for WEEKS... actively told it is ok to remember, been severely damaged but not been wiped, but he hasn't encountered Steve directly.


	12. Broken Deals Have Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> have i mentioned lately that Fluffy is not a hero?

Jamie apologized, Fluffy got food, and everyone went ON and ON about stuff.

Fluffy was fighting hard not to laugh when she realized that Tony wasn’t faking innocence. _He really had no clue that the Hellfire Club had prisoner holding cells?_

_Whatever._

_So they would go to the Club… and Natasha and Shoulders–errr... Clint– would go with them, and she’d pack and then they would go kill people and she would get to see Jamie in combat again… because that had been insanely hot._

_Like really hot._

_Like “Please get those leathers over here right NOW” hot._

_Not that Rumlow wasn’t… interesting... in a completely different way._ Fluffy mused on the way to the Club _.  I mean, he tried to take Jamie away from me.  Loki and Carol had him down fast enough… I bet I could break him to heel in no time._

 She thought about it– he’d broken too fast, she’d have to check.

 _She might as well ask…_ “So… question… well, questions.”

“Go ahead,” Tony sighed.

“One, so about Rumlow… can I have him?” Fluffy asked cheerfully. Rumlow snapped his head over and glared at her over his gag. _Oh…. yeah, he didn’t even know enough to be afraid of me_.  She tried not to giggle.

“What?” Tony sounded confused.

 _Like he wants me to spell this out?_   “Is he, like, yours? And you just want him questioned and held, which would be your right as an Inner Circle member and you know that vote is just a formality–“

“A right to what?” Clint asked sharply. _Oh, right. He doesn’t know._

Fluffy shrugged, “Tony and Loki are being considered for membership in the Inner Circle.  The Board of Directors? For the Club.”

Agent Sitwell asked thoughtfully, “I assume they know who Loki IS?” He was just restrained, not gagged.   _Coulson was so soft on this guy._

“Duh.”

Natasha had that blank look, trying to hide her thoughts. “Inner Circle members can have people questioned and held?”

“Hey, as long as it doesn’t step on Club business, or cause bad publicity, or touch on other Inner Circle members claimed turf? Sure.” Fluffy realized suddenly, _Oh! They might be afraid…_ “Don’t sweat it: Tony already claimed the Avengers.”

Clint very slowly asked, “If he hadn’t, could you throw us in a cell for kicks?” _Yeah, they were worried. Wel,l no point in LYING to them– that would be rude._

Fluffy lay back on Jamie’s comfortable muscles. “In theory? Sure. In practice? You guys are kind of important and high profile and you know, defending the planet and shit, and interfering with that causes the stock market all sorts of issues and people would be mad.” She shrugged and fed Jamie a slice of cheese. “Besides, using Club resources for kidnapping people for personal amusement is considered a sign of weakness, then it’s like lions of the Serengeti time.”

Tony frowned, “So it’s okay if you did it on your own?”

 _Huh? Is he playing dumb?_ “I never said it was okay, but it wouldn’t be CLUB business, would it?”

“Oh.” Tony sighed, “No, it wouldn’t, unless you were sloppy.” _Not playing dumb, just too used to hero shit, right._

Clint, slightly hesitantly, asked,  “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

“Me? Geez, no. Jamie is the first person I kept that I planned on, you know, living,” she said cheerfully. “I don’t have any personal cells, and I never kept anyone else longer than a couple days anyway.”

Sitwell asked the obvious question,  “Who else have you kept? Why?” 

Fluffy rolled over and looked cheerfully at Sitwell. _Honesty is the best policy, and it might just convince the little dweeb to roll over and beg for mama–or Coulson_.  “Well, the LAST one was just a spy in the Hellfire Club, so I took it easy on him; I think he belongs to Mercedes now.”  _Well, he was on a leash at her feet, begging at the last London party, anyway.  I’m not sure he even cared if I was there– he looked happy._   “The one before that was a slave trafficker,” she smiled and remembered him screaming.  Sitwell went white, looking at her eyes.   _Smart boy._ “So I lost my temper and killed him after a couple of days, although I think he might have been glad.” _He was begging me to kill him long before then, really_. “Anyway, we’re here.”

 _Nope, Tony hadn’t known about the holographic walls, or the high security intake. Well, really he shouldn’t have known, it was kind of unfair to expect him to._   Fluffy spent some time calming Jamie down and shooed the three sort-of heroes off upstairs.

Once they were gone, she waited for Sitwell and Rumlow to be secured in cells.

Jamie quietly asked her, “Why do you want Rumlow? I do not wish to work with him.”

“I want to break him, Pretty Eyes.” She smiled up at him. “How many times did he rape you, anyway?”

Jamie tensed. “He… he hadn’t, yet. How did you know?”

“Been there, done that. He has the look of someone who can’t stand anyone being tougher or more capable than he is.  He’d NEED to put you down.”

Jamie nodded slowly.

She walked over to the cells, now that they were secured. Sitwell was just in the usual prisoner scrubs– he obviously hadn’t fought. Rumlow was in the same, but he was moving like they’d used the shock sticks on him.

“Oooh, big bad STRIKE team man had to put up a fight?” she laughed.

“You wouldn’t be laughing without our Asset behind you,” he growled.

She let her smile get a bit wider, and her voice got quieter. She pitched it up into the small frightened girl voice that would probably go straight to Rumlow’s dick. “Agent Sitwell? Can you tell Agent Rumlow who I am? Pretty please?”

Jamie moved his arm around her protectively.   _God, he was such a…he was, wasn’t he?  The killer mutant cyborg was a real softie under all that. Damn._

“The individual called Fluffy claimed to be an assassin for the Hellfire Club, responsible for killing Director Pierce. The Avengers believe her.” Sitwell said it like he was giving a report.  _He was so fucking adorable._

Rumlow was snorting and saying “Ridiculous” when Jamie spoke up.

“She did. I tried to kill her. She took me down.  She brought me back here.” He leaned down and kissed her just above and behind her ear; she leaned back into him happily. “I was here in medical until I recovered– until she took me to Tony Stark to have my Arm repaired.”

Rumlow was looking dubiously at her. “You?”

“Me,” she smiled. “I hope they let me have you, I’d love to break you.” She looked over at Sitwell. “You’re easy; I’m going to hand you to Emma.”

“I believe Phil wants–“

She cut him off. “Emma will have you lying at her feet under her high-heeled boots before you finish saying anything.” She could see the man trying not to look interested. ”And you’ll love it,” she grinned. “Gotta go kill people down at the lab, though, so I’ll just leave her a few notes.”

She pulled away from Jamie. “Jamie?”

He kept looking at Rumlow, the obvious threat. “Yes, Ma’am?”

“Sigh. Now I feel old. Address of the lab, please?”

He gave it to her; as she suspected, it was different than the address Rumlow had given. Rumlow swore.

“Do you know what is at–” she gave the address Rumlow had given.

“No, why?”

“Because that’s the address Rumlow gave for your lab.” She turned and smiled happily at Rumlow. “Your deal was to be given to Coulson or Fury in exchange for answering questions.” 

She walked away from Jamie, waving at him to stay back, as she walked right up to the bars of Rumlow’s cell. “You lied, which means your deal… is null and void.” She tilted her head and made herself look as small and adorable as she could. “Which means I get to keep you.” It didn’t, actually: she’d still have to convince Coulson and the rest, but she was sure she could– they didn’t have holding cells, after all.

As she expected, he grabbed her through the bars, spinning her around and holding her throat.

“Open the cell, Asset, or your bitch here dies of a broken neck.”

She caught Jamie’s eyes and mouthed “Stay” at him.  He hesitated and took a step backwards. _Good boy._

“Open it!”

She had to give Sitwell credit for smarts: when Jamie stepped back, he flattened himself as far away from Rumlow’s cell as he could.

“That’s not how this works, sugar pie,” Fluffy giggled. She let the energy out, just a bit, and power crackled across her skin.  Rumlow screamed and fell backward, his hand and arm blistering, his face scorched red.  The metal bars sparked and hissed behind her.

She turned and looked down at him. He was on the floor, staring at his hand.

“Welcome to the Hellfire Club,” she laughed down at him. “I’ll have the medics patch you up while I’m gone.  Consider that foreplay, Rumlow– I’ll play with you properly when I get back.”

Jamie was looking respectful, but not worried, at her when she walked back over. “You okay, Doll?” he asked.  “I can break a few pieces of him for you, if you like.”

She pulled him down into a kiss and then shook her head.  “Let’s get packed and go smash stuff.  He’s dessert for when we get back.  Besides, I have a side trip planned once we’re down in D.C.”

 


	13. Heading South For the Winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter is MOSTLY a mirror of Chapter 56 of Parlor, i needed to get back into it.

Jamie followed Fluffy to the store rooms for supplies and had to admit he was impressed at the equipment available. She managed to find some light body armor for him, and he felt a lot better once he was back in bulletproofing. They kept the obvious equipment to things that would look like he could have gotten it from a soldier or police officer while he was on the run.

Fluffy changed into a bodysuit that she assured him was at least bullet RESISTANT, and then pulled her jeans and t-shirt on over it again.

He noted without surprise that the majority of her packing was food, but was a bit confused by her packing more than an overnight bag for both herself and for him. She then apparently had a sudden thought and called someone, telling them the correct lab address for their drivers.

Once she was done he cleared his throat and asked, “A single change of clothes I understand, but…?”

She smiled up at him. “I have a side trip planned after the mission.  We might stay an extra day.”

He nodded and carried the bags back upstairs.  He almost went into combat mode when she shrieked.

“ROBERTO!!!!  We’re going on a raid! Wanna come!?”   _It was the man we sat with at breakfast._

“A raid? Sounds tedious.”

“Nope!”  Fluffy waved at the group of Avengers to indicate them. “We’re going hunting Hydra scientists! And goons!  Real Nazi Evil Scientists with brainwashing and stuff!  The ones that were running Jamie?” She waved at Jamie. “He gets first shot, but there’s going to be LOTS of smashing, and probably some valuable personnel to acquire, and lots of research and tech toys for Tony–“

Jamie couldn’t help but grin. _She sounded like a kid trying to convince her big brother to go sledding._

 “You want me? To come with you? To…?”

Tony drily said, “Seriously, it’s a combat mission, Roberto, not a corporate raid.” _Did he honestly not see that this was a combatant?_ Jamie looked carefully. _No, he didn’t, but the other two probably did._

Roberto grinned, “I’d be delighted, but are you expecting to have enough left to study?”

Tony nodded firmly, “Yes, that’s why I’m going.”

“I’m pretty strictly in the ‘break things’ category,” he glanced at Fluffy and Jamie, “and I think you have that covered.”

 _Yes, we do_. Jamie tried to keep the jealousy dialed back.

“You are?” Tony asked.

Roberto just grinned. “When you get back? Maybe we can spar,” he smirked, “assuming you have a spare suit...”

“You… think you can take me on in my suit?” Jamie moved Roberto’s threat level several decimal places to the right.

Roberto turned and bowed politely to Natasha and nodded at Clint. “Good fortune to you all, don’t forget to take some food from the buffet for the trip.”

“OH! Yeah, you guys should pack some fruit and drinks and food and stuff: it’s a long drive,” Fluffy nodded. _God knows we already packed enough to feed a battalion._

Tony frowned, “The Quinjet is faster.”

“Yeah? And a van or two is less noticeable. Also, I always sleep on the way to missions.”

“You do?” Clint asked.

“Yeah, usually.” She grinned up at Jamie and then over at Clint, “Although I could be persuaded to do other stuff.  My van has a mattress.” _She was going to flirt with him the whole way down, wasn’t she?_ Clint just looked amused.

Jaimie blinked, “I hope you replaced it; I remember bleeding on it.”

“Oh, yeah, it was a lost cause. New mattress,” Fluffy nodded.

Clint shrugged, “Well, let’s grab extra food and get going.”

_Fluffy sent texts? –well, she typed into her phone– while the others got their food and then they went to the vans._

“Smart dude!” Fluffy had said cheerfully at one of the drivers. “Jamie? This is the guy who actually stuck around with the CAR… and helped get you home!”

Jamie nodded.  He didn’t remember much of the drive north when she’d gotten him– it was a haze of pain, mostly– but it sounded like this man had been helpful.  The man in question stared at Fluffy, then Jamie, “THIS guy?  He was… uh…”

“Impressively still breathing!” Fluffy said proudly. “Oh, hey, Tony? Clint? Natasha? I have no idea what smart dude’s name is, but he reacts well in a crisis and follows orders.”

THAT was high praise from her, he knew. _Hell, it was high praise for an asset in any mission_.  He saw Natasha and Clint reassess the man.

Indeed, the van seemed eerily familiar, with a large mattress in addition to several seats.  It was armored, with the windows tinted in such a way as to block the view into the back. Jamie approved.  His brief glimpse of the other vans revealed one like this one and one ordinary van that was only superficially the same.

Fluffy promptly sprawled on one side of the mattress and started making a blanket nest with a bag of food in the middle of it. 

Another driver showed up– who also seemed to remember him– and they got on their way.

He made himself comfortable.  Eventually, Fluffy was curled up asleep with an arm over his leg. Jamie  sat back and kept an eye on things, letting his expression go blank.

Natasha and Clint started a conversation in Russian: she fluently, he hesitantly. He assumed they thought it was either too quiet for him to hear, or that he wasn’t awake? _Oh, they were trying not to wake Fluffy._

He amused himself listening to some rather explicit conversation about the relationship between Loki and Tony, and the recent changes, and Clint’s interests…

And then Tony spoke up quietly, “You guys know I can pick up a sex partner and do basic negotiations in more languages than I can speak, right?”

It was all Jamie could do not to laugh out loud– instead, he just said, “I speak Russian, and my hearing is excellent.” He picked his head up and looked at Tony, “They basically said that Loki set some strange limits on you and Hawkeye playing sex games, and he doesn’t understand it and he’s not sure you do either, so he’s just decided to stick with ‘No’– the rest is details.”

Tony grinned, “Thanks.”  Jamie nodded slowly. Tony shrugged and continued talking. “Yeah, Nat. Loki called us aside and said he trusted both of us so he was establishing exact limits for what we could do and then he  did, and… I don’t get it, because up until then he was REALLY emphatic on not sharing.” 

“So you don’t understand it either?” Natasha asked.

“No.”

“Why didn’t you ask?”

“I was stunned?” Tony frowned, “Also, a part of me was wondering if it was a trick.”

Jamie understood the idea that something good offered to you was a trick– he’d faced that so often.

Clint shook his head, “I don’t think it’s a trick–or not JUST a trick– I just think we missed something important and I was a bit stunned at the time to ask.”

Jamie got into one of the sacks and took out some food; apparently the sound of wrappers crinkling woke Fluffy up.  She waved a hand out vaguely and muttered, “Food?”

“She really is a cat.” Clint nudged Natasha, “They can hear a food wrapper in a coma.”

Jamie blinked at her. _A memory of cats running up because a delivery truck was there. Cats slinking around stores when the garbage was thrown out. Cats and dogs following the soldiers for the food they dropped_.  Jamie pulled out a meal bar and handed it to her.  He wasn’t certain she was awake.

Natasha looked at Jamie thoughtfully. “She’s having sex with you?”

Clint just sighed. Tony sputtered, “Nat!”

 “No. She wants to, but I’m too…” He looked down and curled his metal hand over her arm wrapped on his leg. “I’m too damaged.”

“Physically?” Natasha asked.

Jamie considered killing her; considered not answering– but eventually, he said, “I panic, and get headaches. She stops.” He traced down her arm with his normal arm. “She isn’t afraid of me, though.”

“She’s still asleep?” Clint asked quietly. Jamie nodded. “She’s a very strange girl, but she seems to be trying to treat you alright.”

Tony said, “My offer still stands, though. If you ever think you want out…”

 _Out?_ “What out?” Jamie sighed, “I am only ‘out’ because she saved me. She doesn’t hurt me, or wipe me, or even punish me much. I expected to be hurt after attacking…” he frowned, “Loki? And  Carol?”

Tony nodded, “She didn’t?”

Jamie shook his head and for a moment everything was clear. “Nah, she did worse: she lectured me on responsibility; told me she was paying for it; and, as long as I understood what I did wrong and apologized, she’d forgive me– reminded me of my Mom.”   _Images of his mother and his best friend Stevie flashed through his mind and then a cascade of images, too much, too many, flooded his mind and he fell…_

_A train…_

_Falling…_

He woke up and was grateful no one said anything.  He turned the topic to tactics and weapons.

Eventually Fluffy shrugged. “I’m a point-and-shoot cannon in this case. Just remember: if it isn’t EMP shielded, and I go off on it, it’s gone.” She patted a bag, “That’s why I have tranq darts and stuff”

“Are we trying for prisoners?” Natasha asked.

“No,” Jamie said.

“Sorry, Jamie,” Fluffy said, “but yes. It would be good to get at least a few of them to question.”

He had to admit the truth of it, but he didn’t like it.  “Yes, it would be better,” he admitted.

They arrived nearby and went over the defenses again. 

Jamie was worried about getting Tony inside, because he would have to go in without his suit… until he suddenly realized how it could work. “I can get Fluffy and Tony inside, even in Tony’s suit.”

“How?!” Tony asked incredulously.

“Simple. My handlers would hope I would return if I was able.  The Winter Soldier captured you.  I just drag you out of a van and inside…”


	14. Dance Dance Revolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mirrors Parlor chapter 57 Fluffy has a really odd POV sometimes

Everything was going fine until she was forcibly reminded that, underneath it all, Tony was a hero. She was explaining about how Rumlow had given them the wrong address and asked– _Politely! Reasonably!_ –for Rumlow.

Natasha said, “Fine.” Clint frowned. “No,” Tony shook his head.

Then he started going on about torture and ended with “No.”

“You’d let BRUCIE do it!” she pouted. Brucie clearly had no problem with torture, at least not with people like Rumlow. He just SCARED Sitwell, but she could see he wanted to have some time with Rumlow.

“No, no I wouldn’t. I’d let Bruce kill him. Yeah, Bruce could shatter him to pieces, and if we NEEDED to for information I could probably manage to overlook it if I had no other choice, but… we don’t NEED to. Jamie had the information, and anything else I’m sure Emma can get.”

“But Emma is gonna get SITWELL!” she whined. _Emma got ALL the neat toys!_

“She was going to question him–“ Clint started.

Fluffy waved him off, “You gotta be kidding? Lifestyle sub Sitwell? He’s gonna take one look at Emma in her thigh-high boots and roll over and beg.”

Tony blinked. “Oh… Yeah, he probably will, I guess… Emma’s a dom?” H _e asked what?_

Fluffy stared at him _. No, that was still Tony… No, he didn’t look like he had a concussion or anything…_ “Yeah,” Fluffy said.

“How would I know? She’s like the sister I never had!” _Oh, holy shit… nothing. The man honestly couldn’t SEE it…_ She started wondering how blind Emma was to Tony… _Shit, this was almost blackmail material. Dom Emma and Sub Tony, and REALLY it was all “Ewww!”?_

Clint coughed slightly, “Domination doesn’t have to include sex, you know.”

Fluffy huffed. “I already left notes for Emma. She’ll interrogate both of them and I’m betting Sitwell will be HAPPILY and VOLUNTARILY–if you care–on a leash at the next party.”

“Cool, more power to him, or her,” Tony shrugged, “but I’ll go with ‘Let Jamie beat Rumlow to death because he’s an asshole and we don’t need to keep him alive’, but nothing longer than that.”

 _BUT!_ Jamie reached down and tilted her face up. “He’s not worth your time, Doll.” _Sigh… Fine, she’d let Jamie beat him to death. It was faster than he deserved, but FINE._

Yada yada yada hero, yada yada yada guilt… _Clint was utterly scrumptious, but this was getting boring._

Clint looked thoughtfully at Fluffy, “Can you handle this? Those two are combatants–“

“So am I,” Fluffy said, applying a thick layer of eyeshadow and mascara. “I’m nowhere NEAR Jamie’s class, but once I joined the Hellfire Club I got access to top level instruction. While I admit I tend to fall back on my powers, I’m not helpless without them.” She picked out the sparkliest metallic pink. _That shit smeared if you didn’t use fixatives and stuff even if you DIDN’T cry._

She added some more blue eyeshadow and some really smearable blush, and waited for the mascara to dry. She didn’t want the mascara to smear. Unless you did it ahead of time, it didn’t so much look “attractive and terrified” as “rabid raccoon”, so she picked her best no-smear, waterproof mascara for this one. She gave them the standard lecture on last ditch use of her powers and…

 “No,” Jamie said firmly. “You do not know what they would do to you.”

 _Oh, Jeez, the more he remembered the more it was OBVIOUS this guy was a hero._ “Pretty Eyes, you’re sweet, and I think you may be a bit too much of a hero for your own good,” Natasha made a choked noise, “but if I order you to get the allies out before I go off? You DO it.” She kissed him. “Because if I cook Tony alive in his suit, I will be sad.”

Tony’s eyes went wide. “Uh, I would be way, way more than SAD!”

She started the waterworks and _Oh shit it was so FUNNY!_ Jamie was touching her all worriedly and Tony was frozen in his seat looking panicked. Clint swore, “Are you okay? Really?”

Fluffy laughed, then fell sideways onto one of the bags and hugged it like a pillow, sobbing and crying. _Oh, God, I can’t breathe!!! No, don’t make me laugh while I’m crying this hard… HAH!!!_

 _Mother of Kittens! Jamie was sucking on his lower lip…._ “You guys are so CUTE! Jamie, you better be able to be the big, mean Winter Soldier, because if you suck on your lip like that as you drag me in they are NEVER gonna believe it.”

Tony, very shakily, said, “You really can just cry on demand. That’s… incredible”

 “Yup,” she said, sitting up. She opened her compact and checked. “Cool, makeup all puddled down sideways with only a few streaks straight down, because I OBVIOUSLY spent hours tied in the back of the van on my side.”

She hated the fact that she was bragging to PROBABLY the only people who would notice. _Geez, you go to all the trouble to get the angles right and most people never even look at which way the makeup streaked. Still, there was professional pride involved._

Natasha said something impressed sounding in Russian. Clint nodded and Jamie made agreement noises.

“Translation?” Tony asked.

Natasha smiled one of her really cruel smiles, “I was admiring how much damage she can do with such acting skills. I am envious.” Fluffy felt like purring.

 “I do have one last question,” Natasha said, after Tony settled in the back of the van in his suit, and Jamie was tying Fluffy’s hands behind her with cord–she made sure she could still get to her knife. His skill at tying people down did promise some interesting times once he wasn’t having panic attacks, though.

 “What?” Tony asked.

“Not for you, Tony: for Fluffy.”

 _OH!_ “Sure, what?”

“What brand of mascara did you use? Your eyeshadow is all over the place and your lipstick is a mess, but your mascara didn’t budge!”

_Hey, say what you want, but girlfriend knew the important questions!_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing Fluffy is... a bit mind melting sometimes, she's such a CHEERFUL creature...


	15. Lab Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parallels chapter 58 and 59 in Parlor... and from here we diverge to a separate story line for Fluffy and Jamie while the Avengers go on their own mission.

They got in without a hitch, which was amazing given how guilt stricken Jamie and Tony looked _. It was a good thing Tony had the visor down because, honestly, he looked like SUCH a sucker–Jamie was barely better._ It was actually tough to get her act together until Jamie put his murder face on. She was starting to worry about whether he could pull it off when one of the guards got all kinds of officious at him–Jamie snapped his neck without batting an eyelash. _God DAMN he was hot!_

When they got in to the outer lab area one of the Hydra assholes recited that Russian at Jamie, and he said, “Ready to comply,” all flat and robotic–but he was twitching, and his hand was clenching. _Better distract them._

“H-help? He- he hurt… oh god, please help….” Fluffy whimpered in her very best Abuse Magnet manner. Sure enough most of the security scum stopped paying attention to Jamie and starting making plans for her. She idly noted two that looked uncomfortable– _they get to live, or at least die fast_ –and one that probably just wasn’t into girls– _hopefully Jamie could take care of him._

Jamie carted Tony over to a table while Fluffy did her best to get all the rapist scumbags over in one place.

“Showtime,” Jamie said quietly.

Fluffy was glad they were ready because one of the guard assholes just shoved his hand down her jeans. She lit up with power and he reeled away from her, his hand gone and his arm charred to the bone. She stopped pretending and cut the ropes. Two of the men were quick and turned rifles on her; she lit the rifles up hot in their hands, and they went down shrieking– _not for long, though: at least one of them was internally cooked._

She managed to tranq one of the guards that had looked uncomfortable; the rest were pretty much dead. Tony was incredible: she’d never seen what the Iron Man weapons did to mundanes–they looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. Jamie was neater, mostly snapping necks, but she actually saw the man DODGE gunfire– _It was enough to make a girl weak in the knees…_

She finally had to remind him not to slaughter all the scientist types, because they really wanted to question a few.

 “Pretty Eyes? Leave some life in that one,” she asked gently as Jamie held a scientist type up by his neck.

Natasha and Clint showed up, which was cool, but Clint looked a bit out of it, and Tony looked like he was going to throw up. Tony and Clint went out to get some air or something.

“Hey, Widow?” Fluffy asked, “Are they gonna be okay?”

“Yes. Bad memories,” she nodded.

“Jamie?” she asked. He was staring at the weird chair thing.

He put a hand up to his head and looked pained. One of the prisoners tried to bark in Russian again and Natasha kicked him.

Fluffy sighed, got out her phone, and set it to video recording. “Jamie? Go ahead and rip that up if you want.” He looked overjoyed and started tearing it to pieces. Natasha just stared for a moment, then went back to dragging people around. Eventually Clint and Tony came running back in.

“Hi!” she waved. Predictably, Tony whined about the technology. He seemed reassured that the whole thing was being recorded. Anyway, he started hacking the computers and, like every hacker she’d ever met, he went bye-bye.

“Should we get him Doritos and soda?” she asked after a while. “It’s the food of his people, isn’t it?”

Clint laughed but he still sounded edgy.

“I’ll call the other van in, it’s got the restraints.”

Eventually the vans got there, the prisoners got secured, and the chair thing was in itty bitty pieces. She got Jamie to sit down and she let him talk, or more like sort of mutter a lot. Apparently the chair thing was what they used to wipe him, alright. There was also a cold locker–cryostorage–in the other room. She didn’t think Jamie should go there, because he was still kind of freaking out about the chair.

 “I’m in, I mean all the way in, and Jarvis is downloading everything,” Tony suddenly said out of nowhere. “The suit sensors have been recording since we got in, and that means we have a complete schematic of anything mundane in this room. So, unless there is something outside of this room we need to scan, were done.”

“Yeah, there is,” Fluffy nodded. “Cryo chamber. Next room over, that way,” she said, waving. “They used to put Jamie in the deep freeze between missions.” She glanced at Jamie. “You stay here and watch the prisoners?” He nodded.

They walked into a room that looked like something in between real science fiction and cheesy BBC effects.

“Holy shit!” Tony stared at something from a Fifties science fiction movie. “That WORKS?” he asked disbelievingly–which was about what she wanted to say.

Natasha said, “No. No, not really.”

Fluffy frowned, “Jamie said–“

“Oh, I am certain it works FOR HIM. But Steve survived frozen in mundane ICE. And Jamie is apparently also a super soldier? With a variation on the formula. I expect anyone normal would simply die.”

Tony nodded, “That makes sense. He survived you, Fluff…”

She nodded. _That made sense. so that’s why it looked like cheesy BBC stuff: it didn’t really work._ “He gets freaked about this stuff. So… either we map it and move it entire, or you map it and we toast it. I don’t care, but I don’t think we can leave it here.”

Tony started scanning and blueprinting it. Fluffy went back to the other room. The prisoners were all huddled up REALLY tightly in a corner, because Jamie was doing that moving slightly back and forth agitated thing. Fluffy broke out the food and drinks and made sure Jamie ate.

After a little bit she held out a meal bar to Natasha. “Here.”

She looked over at Jamie for some reason, but then nodded slowly and took it. “Thank you.”

“Did you guys pack enough food? Really? Because, honestly, you didn’t look like you packed food.”

“I don’t think we need to eat as much as you two do.”

Eventually the boys came in. “Time to go, our schedule just got changed.” Tony nodded at the prisoners, “We need to put them someplace.”

Fluffy shrugged, “That’s why I brought restraints and a spare van. Send them to the Club and put them on–“ She glanced at Jamie. _Better not say ice._ “–hold, Emma can question them if she gets around to it?”

Tony nodded. “We,” he indicated Clint and Natasha, “have to go. I think I’ll call Steve and pick him up too. Just got a call from Feathers:] mission accomplished.”

Natasha was looking intent at Clint.

“Tony has a unique way of snapping a guy out of a flashback,” Clint said drily.

Fluffy looked delighted. _Oh, holy shit, yes! Kissy lips!_ “Details!” she grinned. “Pictures, by preference!”

“We have to go, Fluffy, can you finish up here? I’ll have Jarvis send down a few defensive units to keep anyone out of here.”

 “Yeah, I’ll send off the prisoners and babysit the base until the robots show up. Then Jamie and I have some of our own stuff to do, and we’ll all meet up back in New York…” she grinned, “IF I get pictures.”

Tony got the okay from Clint and said, “No one but us–and I guess Emma, if she wants–sees this?”

Fluffy crossed her heart. _She would pinky swear if it got her pictures._

Clint nodded at Tony and then grinned, “I want a copy when we’re done, too; seeing as it’s unlikely to get repeated.”

Tony laughed. “Jarvis? Give the lady the pictures.”

Fluffy’s phone beeped. She looked down and–“FUCK that’s hot.” _REALLY hot! Oh, my God, that would be PERFECT for Iron In The Fire art!_ “Hey, can I draw this?”

“As long as it’s a real drawing, not that image, I guess.”

“This is totally going on ‘An Iron in the Fire’ as fan art.” She sent the photos to her mail drop and started alerting the Club to incoming prisoners. “C’mon Jamie, help me get these guys dragged out to the van.”

By the time she got the drivers in to help out, the Avengers were gone. _Just as well, really._

She pulled the one guard she’d tranq’d, “You… you looked less rapey than the rest of them, how’d you get in this?” _Well, he had enough sense to look terrified, anyway._ He didn’t say anything much. She tagged him and told the driver to hold him separately.

She transferred their gear into the civilian van.

“Jamie? Is there like a shower here?”

“Yes,” he nodded and showed her a really shitty military shower.

“Yick,” she frowned. “We take turns taking a quick shower, and then we get out of here.”

 _Ugh._ First things first: one really overpriced luxury hotel with a bathtub big enough to go swimming in; then she’d worry about anything else. _If this was typical for how they’d treated Jamie? He was long overdue for a little spoiling._

_Besides: Room Service._

 


	16. Room Service

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie's thoughts, memories, and a five star hotel

Jamie wasn’t certain if he was awake. He was beginning to think the cryostasis had malfunctioned–or, more likely, the chair–and this was all some sort of pleasant, if bizarre, hallucination. That would explain the memories, he supposed: they didn’t usually let him keep them, but, if he was dying–or something had malfunctioned–perhaps…

Memories crashed down on him and poured away, like standing under a waterfall and trying to hold the water in your hands, but every time he kept just a bit more.

_James. My name was James. I wasn’t called Jamie, and I was rarely called James, and my best friend was Stevie–a little shrimp of a guy who was always sick–who thought he was six foot tall and ate bullies for breakfast. Fluffy was right, I was from Brooklyn. Macy’s parade… pneumonia…getting an apple from Mister Bolognese at the corner stand… USO girls… Army… falling… trains…_

He’d realized that the memories of his life before the Asset were the ones they hated the most. They didn’t really care if he remembered missions, so long as it didn’t interfere with his work, so they came back easily.

Of course, he didn’t want them to.

 _Shower? Oh, yeah, before they went out in public they should shower_. He stood guard while she cleaned up, the makeup coming off her face and leaving her looking young and fresh again. She complained the whole time about the showers. _What was wrong with them? These showers even had hot water_ … He took his turn while she stood guard.

They waited until Jarvis brought suits–like Iron Man, but empty–to guard the building, and then they left.

 _She was talking on the phone about an Oriental hotel?_ He watched the scenery go by until she nudged him.

“This is your ID for this trip.”

He took it and memorized it: _James Powers from Philadelphia._

“And you are?”

“April Powers. We’re married, it makes for fewer questions at hotels.” She had been re-doing her makeup, and looked older, just a bit. She clipped colored streaks into her hair. “Since you kind of have the rocker look down, I’m playing it up. We’re checking into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel–it’s my favorite–and they know me as a rich heiress and businesswoman. Since I didn’t mention you last year, if anyone asks we met and got married recently. They probably won’t ask. The expensive hotels only survive by being discreet.” She looked thoughtful, “You took my last name.”

They arrived at something that looked like a damned castle.

“You don’t have to act too comfortable,” she said, watching his reaction. “They’ll just assume you’re not originally rich.”

“I’m from Brooklyn!” _Jesus Christ, they sweep guys like me away from the front of this kind of building._

“Thought so,” she grinned. “Said you sounded like a city boy.” She got out, the driver carried their bags, and some valet took the van.

_There were inlaid marble floors. Christ._

They went up an elevator bigger than some apartments he’d stayed in. When they got to the room, though, he just froze.

“Jamie?”

“We’re… staying… here? Not just…”

“We’re staying here.” She grinned. “Want me to order room service for you?”

“Uh…”

“Right. I’ll order, you go into the bathroom and get PROPERLY cleaned up.” She laughed.

 _The bathroom…_ He was still standing there staring at it when she walked in naked and grabbed a bathrobe off the hook. She steered him into the shower and showed him the controls for the thing. _The shower had controls, and settings, and multiple… what was this thing?_ And then he didn’t care.

She eventually pulled him out of the shower, handed him a bathrobe, and dragged him back into the room.

There was a woman there he didn’t know and he started to tense.

“This is Bridget, and she’s giving me a massage.”

_Bridget? Yeah, she looked like a Bridget: all muscle, and as Irish as they came._

Fluffy sprawled onto the padded table that had appeared in the room. “So, he’s never had a proper massage, and he’s skittish. He may get one later.” He sat and watched to be sure Bridget wasn’t hurting her–it seemed to make her a bit nervous, but she managed.

Someone knocked at the door and he tensed. _His weapons were at hand but–_

“It’s room service, Jamie, you know? Food? Go let them in.”

He did. Fluffy told him the tip was on the table, and they left platters of food that were starting to smell really good.

Fluffy sent Bridget out and wandered over to the food.

“What are you looking for?”

“Ketchup?”

She stared at him. “Why on earth do you want ketchup?”

“For the steak?”

Fluffy stared at him some more, then shook her head, “No. Uh-uh. No. If you want to desecrate a steak, you can do it in the privacy of your own rooms.” She frowned, “Have you ever had a good steak?”

 _She seemed awfully firm about the no ketchup…_ Eventually she cut a piece of the steak off and held it out on a fork, so he ate it… _Holy SHIT, what WAS this?_

She laughed, “You don’t put ketchup on THIS, Jamie.”

“It doesn’t need it!”

“Ketchup!” she grinned. They ate the rest of the food quietly. Fluffy went off and apparently tried to live in the bathtub… Jamie had to pull her out when she showed signs of actually sleeping in it.

She curled up around him on the bed.

He tried to sleep.

Really he did.

Eventually he moved off onto the floor, which was frankly softer than a lot of army cots, and went to sleep.

He woke up to Fluffy’s head over him, as she hung partly off the bed. “Why are you on the floor?”

“Bed was too soft.”

“The bed… was too soft?”

He nodded. She just shook her head and got up. “You want to eat in the restaurant or order room service again?”

“How much time do we have?”

“As much as I want to have.” She shrugged, “But I’d like to go to the museum today, so we should probably get moving.”

“Museum?”

“Yeah, we’re going to the World War Two exhibit at the Smithsonian… Hopefully it will jog a few memories.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have not stayed at this hotel, but yes there is a Mandarin Oriental Hotel and they offer 24 hour room service and in room spa services  
> https://www.hotels.com/ho218907/mandarin-oriental-washington-d-c-washington-united-states-of-america/
> 
> ahem. apparently a typo had Fluffy putting colored steaks in her hair. i meant streaks. Fluffy would not waste steaks


	17. Identity

Fluffy tucked her hair up under a panda hat and changed into an Anime t-shirt. She handed Jamie a plaid button-down to put on over his black shirt and rocker getup to look less obviously muscled and help hide the Arm. He just stared at it for a few seconds before he put it on.

She was becoming increasingly concerned: Jamie was acting more unsettled and more remote. At first she thought it was just the whole Hydra base and chair thing, but it got worse at the hotel. She chewed on it for a bit. Halfway there in the van, she decided she better say something.

“Jamie? Look, something’s bugging you, and I really need to know if it’s gonna blow up, because the Smithsonian is a REALLY public venue and if things blow up there we can’t hush it up.”

“Oh. No. I just… I remember more, and it’s…” he trailed off.

“Remembering is fine. Talking is fine. Slaughtering tourists and breaking displays at the Smithsonian is NOT fine, because we’ll get banned and I won’t be able to do any research there anymore.”

He gave her one of those stares she got from other people sometimes. “You are a very, very strange lady.”

The driver snorted and muttered, “You can say that again.”

“So what did you remember that has you so worked up?”

“Brooklyn. I was– I was from Brooklyn, and my name was James.”

“James? That makes sense: Jamie sounded right, you said.”

“No one called me that, but my name was James.” He sounded firmer. “I don’t think they called me Jamie, but it’s okay.”

“And you’re from Brooklyn?”

“Yeah, and so was Stevie, the guy with pneumonia…. It’s all bits and pieces, but it was a long time ago, I think. Cars were different, and hotels like that woulda swept me away from the curb or called the cops on me… unless maybe I was in uniform?”

“So you were in the military? Like… against Hydra? in World War Two! Like I thought!”

“I think so? I was just a grunt… but,” he flashed that crooked smile that looked so good on him, “the gals sure liked the uniform on me.”

“I bet the gals liked you in anything, Jamie.”

She tried to be patient as they drove to the museum. _As usual, the more you wanted to get someplace the longer it took._ Eventually they were there and then she had to keep slowing down as Jamie stared at it all. She tried very hard to remember that she’d spent most of the first time she visited running all over like a six year old on a sugar high.

“So you’ve never been here?”

“I’m pretty sure I’d remember. Wow,” he said, almost walking into a tour group. “Uh, sorry!”

“Yeah this place is pretty memorable.”

It took two hours to get him to the World War Two exhibit…

…and less than fifteen minutes before it all went sideways.

She was trying to see over the crowds–and there were always crowds at this exhibit–and cursing her height, and thinking about kneecapping someone, when she realized she hadn’t heard anything from Jamie in a bit.

She managed to fight her way past the tour group into an open spot and found him staring at the old photos of the Howling Commandos.

He was standing next to the life-size photo of Bucky Barnes. It was as if his reflection was lined up perfectly with the picture, except in sepia tone and with shorter hair.

“Oh, Holy SHIT…” She stared around: only one other person had noticed.

“Great grandnephew!” She forced on her cheerful smile. “Looks just like him, doesn’t he?” she said brightly and moved up to Jamie.

“Jamie? Honey? Pretty Eyes? We gotta move…”

“James, my name was James,” he said slowly, putting a hand out to the words.

_Bucky? Where do you get Bucky from JAMES…? Oh, right… James Buchanan Barnes… Bucky… He wasn’t CALLED James…_

More people were turning to look, and at least one kid suddenly yelped, “It’s BUCKY!”

His mom smiled, “Sure looks like him, honey, but no.”

Fluffy put on her best plastic smile, “Great grandnephew, actually! Can you believe he was never in the exhibit before?”

“Stevie,” Jamie said flatly. “That’s Stevie.”

She looked over at a picture of Steve… _Rogers._ ”Oh…” She closed her eyes and leaned on Jamie for a minute.

“Right,” she said pulling herself up. “Sergeant!” she hissed at him “About FACE. Move!”

He did.

 “Uh, what?” he said a few beats later as she was steering him out the door.

“We’re going to the gift shop. They have books with all the images in them. We’re going to the gift shop and then we will go find someplace private and stare at this shit in peace.”

The gift shop lady recognized the resemblance as soon as they tried to check out. “You look JUST like Bucky Barnes!”

“Great grandnephew!” Fluffy’s cheeks hurt from smiling so hard.

“Oh? Oh, yes, he had sisters…”

“Yes, yes, we need to go catch a plane, can we get this?” she waved her credit card at the woman. _Must not kill anyone in public. Must not kill retail workers, they have enough shit... Must not…_ She managed to say thank you and dragged Jamie, and the bag of books, back out to the van.

“DRIVE!” she snapped as she pulled the door shut.

“Uh, where?” _To give him credit, he asked that AFTER he started driving away._

“Assume we’re being traced, LOSE it, and then take us to a motorcycle dealer.”

“Right.”

“Jamie? Can you drive a motorcycle?”

“Yes.” He was staring into the distance sort of vaguely.

“JAMIE!” she snapped.

He blinked, “Sorry, what?”

“Can you drive a motorcycle?”

“Yes,” he said much more alertly.

“Good. We’re buying one.” She shoved the best book on Captain America and the Howling commandos into her backpack.

“Hey, driver! Try to get these other bags back to the club safely, IF you can, but you know the drill.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Jamie, I know you had a shock, but Hydra–at least some of them–must have known who you were.” Jamie looked startled and then nodded. “There’s a chance they’ll trace us from the Smithsonian. You have to save the shock until we get someplace safe–until then, Soldier, its evasion and escape. Got it?”

He sat up more and nodded. “They won’t be looking for a motorcycle.”

“Right. We use the secondary IDs, and a prepaid credit card–good as cash–and vanish,” she said, tossing her panda hat and putting her hair into a ponytail with every colored hair clip and ribbon she had with her. She slashed the t-shirt across her chest a few times and noted with approval that Jamie had trouble not staring.

“Motorcycle vendor hopefully won’t remember my hair or eye color,” she said waving at her chest.

Jamie coughed, “Yeah, that’ll work.”

She had Jamie buy the heaviest motorcycle in the place and the usual leathers and helmets for the two of them while she played arm candy.  Fluffy made a point of leaning forward on the counter reading the magazines while Jamie put the order together. She doubted the salesman would remember anything about either of them except her cup size and the brand of jeans she wore.

She showed Jamie the route home–with a stop at a seedy “No Questions Asked” motel on route–on her phone before turning it off and pulling the battery. She had him snap the IDs and the credit cards into pieces and dropped them over the next few miles on the highway, heading north.


	18. Paint it Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> really it's more punk than goth

Jamie followed Fluffy’s orders to a just-off-the-highway motel that had the most studiously disinterested desk staff he ever saw.

Once they were in the room, with the bike parked just outside the window, he decided to ask, “Is this place normally good to hide out in? Or what?”

“Most of their business is illegal; they have enough truckers and broke travelers to cover it all up, but it’s mostly prostitution, smuggling, and all that stuff that pays the bills.”

“You stay here much?” He tried to smile, but all he could think of was the book in her backpack.

“Not since I was a kid, no,” she said. She sounded tight and closed off. “It hasn’t changed much.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

She looked at him blankly and then smiled, “Not your fault, Pretty Eyes. Here.” She handed him the photo book. “I gotta go get some supplies. I’ll be right back.”

“Do you need me to come with you?”

“No, you hang out.” She slipped out the door.

He opened the book, finding himself staring at a unit photo…

_Dugan… Fallsworth… Morita… Jones… Pinkerton…_

He flipped the page. Peggy: the woman he kept remembering–spitfire babe in uniform; God forbid you messed with her–her name was Peggy Carter… The girl in the gingham dress was from his old neighborhood–she went to school with him, back in the day… Peggy reminded him of her… He wondered whatever happened to them…

There were photos of Brooklyn, from when he was living there… _Damn… Even the old vegetable stand…_

_Stevie… Photos, some of them looked clinical… I never saw these… and then after, when he was finally as big and buff as he always thought he was…_

_Steve Rogers, Captain America._

_ Target: Steve Rogers, Captain America. _

_No… No, that can’t be right! Steve was his best friend… and he’d be DEAD by now…_

…

“Hey… Jamie? Jaaaaamiiiiiee…. I ordered in. Food, you know?” Fluffy’s voice drifted into his ears.

“Huh?”

“Food. You’ve been staring at the book for hours.”

He looked up and coughed–Fluffy’s hair was jet black. He waved at her head and finally managed to say, “That’s different.”

“Yeah, we’ll go over full Goth–it’s just temporary, hon, washes out. I need to do your hair, too, but it will wait until after we eat.”

The food was surprisingly good, if odd, and as usual she had ordered enough to feed them and then some. After dinner she took him into the bathroom and started dying his hair an artificial black, like hers.

“This looks like dye, you know.”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to.”

They sat in the room, waiting for it to dry.

“So, you’re Bucky Barnes. I gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting THAT, since, you know, he’s very much known to be dead.”

“I’m not Bucky Barnes.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you are. Besides, didn’t you say so at the museum?”

“I’m the Asset.” Jamie felt sick. “Bucky wouldn’t do the things I’ve done.”

Fluffy snorted. “You’re Bucky Barnes after however many years and a lot of bad experience. If you mean you aren’t the same as you were back then? Who is?! Shit, do you think anyone came home from the war exactly the same?”

“No, but I–”

She poked him in the chest, “Just because I won’t call you ‘Bucky’ doesn’t mean you aren’t him: it just means I think it’s a stupid nickname and Jamie suits you.” She muttered, “I can’t believe all the time you were talking about Stevie…”

“Captain America… Steve?” He wasn’t sure how to ask.

“Yeah?”

“He’s alive?!”

“Yeah, didn’t you know? I mean, you said he was a target…”

“My head keeps spinning.” He admitted, “I didn’t know who he was!”

“Right, they told you he was a target but you didn’t know it was HIM, right?”

He nodded.

“Once we get back to New York, I can show you pictures. Yeah, I’ve met him. He’s cute, great shoulders, nice butt–really nice butt, actually…” She was looking off at nothing. “Blonde, baby face, cute lips, looks like he’s wearing lip gloss but he isn’t…”

Jamie remembered that, suddenly. “Yeah, he always did. The USO girls were jealous.”

“Acts really strait-laced and prudish, but I think it’s mostly culture shock; he definitely has an eye for the girls… Dunno if he likes boys too.”

Jamie started to protest and then stopped. “I don’t THINK so? You mean like Tony and Loki?”

“Yeah, or Clint. Some folks like both, other folks only like one or the other.” She looked thoughtful. “Some folks don’t care much either way, and some folks don’t care, period. But yeah, some guys like guys but they like girls too.”

“I don’t know… I never thought about Stevie… I know he liked Peggy.” Jamie shook his head. “How is he alive?”

“His plane crashed into the ice–they added that to the exhibit, but it’s not in that book–he crashed into the ice, they figured he was long gone. Howard Stark kept trying to find him–”

“I killed him,” Jamie said quietly.

“No, his plane crashed–”

Jamie shook his head. “Howard. I killed him. I didn’t even remember who he was.” He felt sick. “I killed them both.”

“You did?”

“Yes. Hydra wanted the serum… They were witnesses.”

Fluffy blinked at him. “Well, that’s gonna make this a bit awkward at the tower...”

Jamie sagged, “Tony will hate me.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “probably. He’ll get over it, though.”

“How do you get over that?!”

“Let me handle it. So, yeah, Steve crashed into the ice and S.H.I.E.L.D. finally found him by accident just a few years ago. They formed the Avengers and were fighting alien invaders, including Loki–you remember my telling you about that?”

Jamie remembered the briefing about the invasion; he just hadn’t put STEVE into that. “Yes.”

“So like Natasha said back at the lab, she pointed out that Steve survived just being frozen in regular ice… So the cryo thing they put you in probably worked because of YOU, and the super soldier serum, not because it was great science.”

“Oh… That makes sense.”

“Look, we’ll get back to the club, but we’ll take the scenic route. Once we’re sure we’ve lost anyone who might be chasing us, we’ll deal with this, okay?”

Jamie nodded. “Do- Do you think Steve… remembers me?”

Fluffy just gave him this LOOK, like that was the stupidest thing she ever heard. “Yeah, I’d be willing to bet on that.”

She piled on the makeup the next morning, and made him put on eyeliner– _for Chrissakes!_ –and they drove off. They stopped at one of the travel plazas and she showed him the map: they were heading to Philadelphia.

“There’s a Harley dealership right off the highway on route up,” Fluffy said happily. “We’ll buy a new bike, and sell this one.”

“Won’t they ask?”

“No, I’m calling a friend to meet me there. He’ll buy this one without questions, we lose money on it, but we have a different bike.”

It didn’t take long before they were on a similar motorcycle, with different helmets, and a new jacket for Jamie with the Harley Davidson logo emblazoned on the back.

They stopped in Philadelphia and Fluffy checked them into a small hotel in a historic district in Philadelphia.

“It’s walking distance to the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Center, and, more importantly, South Street and the best places to eat.”

“What’s South Street?”

“Late night entertainment, tattoo parlors, cool clothes, awesome shops, collectables, and stuff like that.” She waved a hand, “We both need new clothes, but, more importantly, there’s, like, all the food in the world in this neighborhood.”

Jamie had falafel, a “Philly Cheesesteak”, a vegan cupcake, and some kind of African shrimp dish. It wasn’t so much that he had a chance to get hungry, as that Fluffy kept buying food in between items of clothing. It was tasty, anyway.

The clothes she got for him looked like more of the same: black on black with weird logos. _Her clothes, though!_ She was wearing jeans that were more holes than denim, with fishnets under them, and a shirt with a big picture of teeth and lips on it that said “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in dripping blood on the back.

When they got back to the hotel she grinned at him, “Oh, man, you are so CUTE when you blush.” She shook her head, “I knew back in the van you were a hero type. I shoulda realized this was gonna blow up in my face.”

“How is it going to blow up in your face?” he asked her, trying to keep his eyes off the holes in her jeans.

“First of all, if you remember more, does that mean maybe you can kiss me without freaking out so much?”

“Maybe.”

She pulled him onto the bed. “Let’s see how far we get this time.”

They got a lot further before he panicked. He was afraid he’d hurt her, but she seemed okay.

“Just go to sleep, Jamie, we’ll get back to New York tomorrow, and I’ll get you onto the internet. You can look up more than you ever wanted to know about Steve.” She said into his chest. “I’ll even let you read fan fiction if you want, just bear in mind it’s made up.”

“They made up the comic books and stuff during the war, too,” he admitted.

“This is pretty explicit sexy stuff, some of it. Not like you had back in the day.”

“You never saw the Tijuana Bibles, then. The one of Steve–Captain America–and the female Nazi officer got passed around a lot.”

“Suddenly I need to study more history!” She laughed. “Anyway, sleep.”

He lay there wondering if he could ever bear to look Steve in the eyes after all he’d done, wondering how much worse he was going to remember, worrying about Hydra.

Fluffy rolled over in bed, kicked him, and stole his blanket.

He went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live in Philadelphia.   
> there are several Harley dealerships on route between Maryland and Philadelphia (one off route one and one off I95 that i know of, both with wide selections). there is a small unobtrusive hotel in an old brick building near both South Street and Constitution Plaza (and several restaurants). South Street is nowhere near its heyday, but yes plenty of places to get clothes on the street or the neighborhood, and a LOT of food.


	19. He's at least an eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trying to get my Avengers related writing groove back...  
> this takes place while Tony and Loki are not available duriing chapter 63 (ish) of Will you walk into my Parlor

They got back to the Hellfire Club eventually. Jamie was concerned when a group of people almost immediately surrounded them and started asking questions–he slipped into soldier mode…

“Chill, Jamie,” Fluffy said calmly. “Guys? Twitchy bodyguard, remember? Back up.”

“You sent back a lot of people, and the notes on what to do with them were rather vague,” a man in a guard’s type uniform said, standing too close. The Asset glared at him: he moved further away.

“I sent notes. I said they were Hydra and you should let Emma figure them out.”

“I only just got back, dear.” The woman talking sounded familiar; Jamie turned– _PRIORITY OVERRIDE: DO NOT HARM_ –it was a stunning looking woman in white. She looked calculating and powerful. _I’ve seen people like this before, they’re dangerous._

“Hey, Emma.” Fluffy waved at her. _Interesting. She didn’t go hug her?_

“Sandra.” The woman’s smile seemed more genuine, “How is Jamie doing?”

Fluffy sighed. Emma frowned and glanced at him.

Jamie bristled; she looked like someone about to pull on his leash.

“He remembered a lot,” Fluffy said. “It’s complicated…”

“He’s not causing a problem, I hope?”

Fluffy’s eyes widened comically. “No! No, not at all!” She was shaking her head so vigorously Jamie started worrying about her neck. “It’s just… he’s a hero.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I think he’s like gotta be somewhere in between Iron Man and Captain America… is there like a scale?” Fluffy dug a meal bar out of her bag. “Like, if Tony is like a six or a seven–are we using like the earthquake scale or is it linear?–with zero being no hero tendencies at all, and Steve is like a nine–”

“Ten.” Jamie couldn’t help but correct her. “Punk was fighting bullies twice his size when he was a kid; he’s like one of those little terriers.”

“Right, if you say so.” Fluffy patted him on the arm. “Pretty-Eyes here is at least an eight.”

“What the heck rating system are you using?” Jamie stared down at her. “I’m not–”

“Why’d you say ‘heck’ and not ‘hell’?” Fluffy demanded, spinning to face him with her hands on her hips.

Jamie stepped backwards slightly. “My Mom’d kill me for using that kind of language around a lady,” he mumbled.

Fluffy slapped her hand over her face and turned back to face Emma. “SEE!?”

“Oh, dear…” Emma bit her lip. “I see. Do you want any help?”

“Nah, I’ll deal. It’s messy and complicated and… yeah, anyway.” Fluffy took a deep breath, “Can you just sort out the prisoners? The scientist types have like a head full of interesting brainwashing stuff on Jamie, plus probably the drugs and all that. I’m not sure Tony counted how many we shipped up and we can always say one or two died if you want to keep some. You totally want to keep the submissive dude–Jasper Sitwell–and he’s a great leash on Coulson, I bet. Oh, and Tony says he doesn’t want to let me have Rumlow, but Jamie can beat him to death if he wants.”

Emma only blinked a couple of times and then apparently parsed out the information. Jamie was impressed. _She must be used to her._ “Why doesn’t Tony want you to keep this Rumlow person?”

“Heroes!” Fluffy snorted. “Says he’ll let Brucie kill him, but I’d torture him or break him or own him or something, and it’s against the hero code or some shit.”

Emma nodded, “He always had a bit of that; it got worse after he was tortured in Afghanistan, apparently.”

“Yeah, so I figured I have to set up to talk to some folks, and sort out some of the issues with Jamie remembering who he used to be… So I guess you should question Rumlow first, and then I can let Jamie use him for a punching bag?”

“Of course, dear,” Emma nodded regally at her.

“C’mon Jamie, we gotta go get stuff set up and all, and by the time I’m done you can go beat on people.”

Jamie followed her out, head spinning.

*

She called people, she left messages, she ate more, and then she did something involving computers while Jamie tried to read history and look at the picture book and figure out what it all meant.

“Jamie? It’s been a while, wanna go beat on someone?”

He followed her down to the cells to find them stuffed full of Hydra and “S.H.I.E.L.D.” people, but conspicuously absent was Sitwell. Jamie was staring at the people who’d been his latest tormentors, enjoying watching them cower in a corner when Fluffy tugged him over to Rumlow’s cell.

There was a tag on his cell that Fluffy tore off and handed him. It had random words and notes he didn’t understand. “I don’t get it?”

She laughed. “He had code keys put in. Simple ones, not like yours, just paralysis and unconsciousness and stuff.”

Rumlow was staring at her like she was the devil incarnate. He still had marks from the burns. “You’re all MUTANTS!”

“Duh?” Fluffy snorted at him. “All yours, Jamie. Break him or don’t, whatever you like, just tell the guard when you want out.” Then she unlocked the door and let Jamie in.

Uncounted faces of people just like Rumlow flashed through his mind. People who’d used him, hurt him, ordered him to hurt others… Jamie blinked a few times and blocked the shots Rumlow was throwing at him.

The Asset remembered Rumlow from when he woke up, handing him his mission.

The Asset blocked a kick and moved away from the next one; he ended up with his back against the bars…

Jamie remembered Rumlow giving him the assignment to kill Steve Rogers.

Rumlow hit him a few times–it didn’t matter.

Bucky Barnes hit Rumlow full strength in the shoulder, shattering it. He punched him in the jaw before Rumlow could fall down. Bucky heard Rumlow’s head snap back, and felt his jaw break.

Rumlow hit the ground and lay still.

“End of the line, asshole.” James–Jamie–Buchanan Barnes asked to be let out, and went to find the library.

*

Fluffy went down to retrieve Jamie after leaving another message for Tony. She found guards moving some of the overcrowded scientists into Rumlow’s old cell. They looked a bit cowed.

“Killed him already? I thought he’d play with him a bit.”

“It was weird, ma’am, he just blocked most of the guy’s shots and sort of looked at him for a bit, then hit him twice, and the guy was dead.”

“Huh. Yeah, weird.” Fluffy shrugged and went off to find Jamie; she found him in the Hellfire Club library.

“Hey, Jamie, whatcha looking up?”

“You told me about fan-fiction, I asked someone…” Jamie looked up at her very oddly. His accent sounded more Brooklyn than Russian. “YOU wrote these?”

She peered over his shoulder. _Yup_. “Fluffyisacatgirl? Yeah, those are mine.”

“Some of these are pretty filthy… not just yours.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Are those guys actually… like that? Because Steve would totally be oblivious to the magic uniform thing, but I don’t get the idea that they would go for some of this stuff…”

“No, honey, I try to keep pretty far away from stuff I KNOW about real people… at least stuff you couldn’t find out from the news. So, yeah, Tony is a sub… but I didn’t write stuff in because I knew that–although I did–but just for kicks… and based on rumors and stuff. Like Angel? Warren? The line about the X-men and terrorists is all the stuff he says, but he is totally not like that in bed from what I hear, although he is gay, and so is Hawkeye I think… but like everyone is gay in fan-fiction, so no one makes anything of it.”

He sat there staring at her for a bit.

“Did I go too fast again?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

“In fan-fiction, lots of people are written as being gay, and involved with other characters in the movie, or other real people, or band mates, or whatever. It doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“Apparently a lot of people think I was sleeping with Steve?”

“It’s like one-third figure it was you, one-third think it was Peggy Carter, and the other third are split between ‘all the USO girls’, ‘female Nazis’ and ‘all of the above, possibly at once.’”

“And this is written by… girls? Not like the Tijuana Bibles?”

“Most of fan-fiction seems to be written by girls, yeah–not all of it though–and like some of the names are neutral and I don’t know their gender.”

“Wouldn’t girls like… Wouldn’t they write about… um... guys falling for them?”

“Some do, it’s all in there somewhere. Let me show you how to search the tags…”

After a long time, and introducing Jamie to photo manipulations–which pretty well broke his brain–she got him to go through a shower and join her in bed.

He didn’t panic…

Much.

Real potential there… _I really hope Tony doesn’t kill him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> life kicked me kind of hard. good thoughts on health and finances always welcome.  
> and comments are always a good thing


	20. Loss of Appetite (Fluffy's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if it seems like everything is on fast forward that's because it's Fluffy's POV  
> mirrors chapter 64 of Parlor

The other books she had bought from the Smithsonian had, in fact, gotten back to the Club. She handed the stack to Jamie and–assured that he probably wouldn’t move, other than turning pages, for several hours–went to find Emma.

“Hey, boss lady!” Fluffy came in and stopped as she spotted tied-up Jasper Sitwell lying under her feet. He looked up at her and looked away, flushing deep red. “Told you you’d like him.”

“He’s very interesting, Sandra, thank you.” Emma smiled at her, “How is Jamie?”

“Gotta talk about that,” Fluffy glanced at Jasper and raised an eyebrow. Sitwell closed his eyes and went limp.

“There, he’ll nap for a bit. I got some interesting information about your Jamie, if it’s true.”

“He’s Bucky Barnes.”

“So it is true,” Emma mused thoughtfully. “An interesting development… He could be useful, but it’s more likely he will be a problem.”

“He’s a HERO, Em…. It’s tragic!” Fluffy cried. “I’m telling you, the guy was sucking on his lower lip because I cried! The only good part of this is that he seems to be almost stupidly loyal.”

“You do have to watch that in heroes, Sandra: their ‘loyalty’ can vanish in a heartbeat when you go against them.”

“Yeah, I know, I know: ‘it was for the best’; ‘it was for your own good’.” Fluffy made gagging noises. “Luckily, he still seems okay with killing people. Anyway, it’s worse than that.”

“Worse?”

“Not ONLY is he Captain America’s bestest sidekick from the war–which is gonna be a nightmare to sort out–but he killed Tony’s parents under orders from Hydra.”

Emma’s eyes went very wide. “That…”

“Is a problem and Tony is a valued ally and worth way more than my bodyguard–yeah, I got it.”

Emma nodded, “Some people would… not handle this well.”

“I’m NOT happy, but I’ll handle it. I just wanted to let you know, since Tony is an old friend and all… I already left messages saying I needed to talk.”

“What do you want my opinion on?”

“Odds that Tony is gonna kill him?”

“If you can convince him that Jamie was controlled, not that bad.”

“That’s what I thought. I figure I’ll get the ‘Tony might kill him’ over with and then see about the whole issue with Steve–he’ll be back in Washington by now, so I shouldn’t have to deal with him until later.”

“Can I help?”

“Probably not. I figured I should find out about Sitwell, though, because Coulson may be there.”

“Ah,” she nodded regally. _She practices that in the mirror, I’m sure._ “Jasper has a slight fetish for humiliation along with his submissive interests, and he has a GREAT deal of information on Phil Coulson.”

“I changed my mind on that ‘meh’ earlier–dish!”

She smiled, “He is, like many, so tightly controlled and in command in his work that he seeks out submission as a means to relax–unlike Jasper, whose nature is inherently that of a submissive.”

“I was getting that. Him and Clint?” she had just finished asking when her phone went off. She glanced down and swore. “It’s Tony.”

He was apparently awake, and okay, and something had gone wrong with the mission but it was all fixed now, and they were ordering Thai food and she could come over anytime. _Fuck_.

“Give me all the dirty details you got from Sitwell on the ride over to Tony’s?”

“Certainly.”

She set Jamie up with more books and some pointers to more internet searches, and lied through her teeth about how alright it was absolutely going to be. He looked reassured.

_“Keep an eye on Jamie, will you?”_

_“Of course.”_ Emma’s mental voice sounded concerned.

_“Okay, so…?”_

_~_

Emma told her the most fascinating stories-so fascinating that she honestly didn’t even pay attention to the trip over. Coulson was apparently a stealth badass, and had been in some pretty crazy situations in–and out of–the BDSM scene… _I’m going to have a tough time dealing with him without either giggling or asking for an autograph._

_~_

The elevator doors opened and Fluffy walked in. She had expected Tony, Loki, maybe a few Avengers… not… this…“Uh… Hi?” _Shit, shit, shit, shit…_

Tony waved a pair of chopsticks full of noodles and welcomed her in, Brucie had saved her a container of food, everything was okay even if it was a real crowd and then…

 “Where’s your… Uh, Jamie?” Steve– _Captain Fucking shoulda been in D.C._ –Rogers asked.

“Oh, wow, uh... You’re here? I thought you were in Washington?” _Oh great, JUST great._

“Came up for the whole ‘retrieve the scepter’ fight.” Rogers waved at everyone.

Warren introduced the new people. _Well, she’d met Hank once, and slid down one of Bobby’s ice sculptures… but there was this really good looking emo dude on the couch…_ “And the guy doing the mysterious long-coat routine on the couch is…?”

The good looking, tall, slim guy stood up politely. “Remy LeBeau,” he said in the most ridiculously sexy accent, and then topped it off by bowing slightly. “Have we met, ma cheri? You look very familiar?”

“I’m pretty sure I’d remember you unless your costume has a full mask and it fits badly.” _Very good looking, but had all sorts of “don’t go there” vibes._

“I have only rarely fought alongside them and this is–so to speak–my costume.”

“Then nope–also, your accent is to die for.” She nodded, “I’d remember you.” She started going over in her head any circumstances that she could have met this guy in and NOT recognized him… _No… Nope… No…_

She was bantering with the Avengers sort of idly when Remy gasped and said something in French that Fluffy didn’t catch, and then continued, “I think I’ve seen you–or your picture–when there was a bit of a scuffle between the guilds in New Orleans... My guild took down another guild several years ago that was engaged in some less savory business.” He bowed much more deeply at her. “If you need any assistance, please let me know; I may know a few people you… worked with.”

_Oh fucking God Damn HELL… Was he one of the kids? Just peripherally involved? Not involved at all? Or did I have to kill him? He sounded like a hero, though…._

Tony looked back and forth, “Yeah, well, Remy here seems to think a little stealing and killing people might kick him out of our club or something.”

Fluffy put her usual expression back on and laughed, “That must be because he’s hanging around with the mutant terrorists,” she gave an exaggerated wink toward the X-Men, Warren especially, “as opposed to the honorable and respectable and publicly we haven’t done anything and our lawyers can prove it, Hellfire Cub.”

“Are you alright, Fluffy?” Rogers asked, “It… Is it just your friend being sick? Or..?”

 _Shit, I’m so rattled I can’t even fool HIM?_ She gave it up and just sighed. “Great. Okay, some of this can be public, I guess, as long as everyone’s under bindings. Some of it I need to talk to individuals first, okay?”

She waited until everyone nodded. “So, you know Hydra brainwashed him, and that’s understating it. He got his brain scrambled so bad that Emma couldn’t do much other than replace the control phrases and hope he recovered.”

Everyone nodded again. She looked at Clint, “Look, are they all clear on the idea that you didn’t choose to kill people when you–”

“It was not his fault,” Loki said immediately.

She looked at Tony, “You clear on that?”

“Me? Yeah. Loki got himself put under in the last fight and it almost got me, too! You can’t hold anyone accountable for something they did under mind control.”

 _Good._ “Jamie remembers a lot more of what they had him DO, and he feels guilty about it. I’ve tried to tell him it’s not his fault, but…”

Clint nodded, “It took me a while.”

Natasha spoke up, “Even if the control is not as severe, he would certainly have diminished responsibility.”

 _Wasn’t as severe? Lemme explain a few things…“_ He didn’t even remember his old name, his friends, his family… I don’t think he’s accountable, but he does.” Fluffy sighed. “What they had him do was stuff he wouldn’t have done, before they got him. I’m afraid I was right: he’s a hero under all that.” She stabbed her chopsticks into the container moodily.

“Something wrong with being a hero?” the furry blue hero asked.

“No, I mean you guys have your place and shit, and you’re useful, but it means he’s busy angsting and talking about how he should be shot for what he did and how no one will ever want to deal with him and crap.”

Remy asked, “You rescued him?”

“He didn’t die when I killed Pierce, so I brought him home and fed him. Anyway, he has pretty eyes.”

“Pierce? Uh, assassinated in DC?”

“Actually one of the secret bigwigs in Hydra.” Tony sighed, “Yeah, she killed him. Jamie was a Hydra assassin; he was supposed to kill Fury.”

“And Captain America, and probably the rest of you.” Fluffy shrugged and looked at Rogers. _Better try to lead into this so it didn’t all come out at once._ “He remembers you, from the war. Yeah, he’s actually old: they kept him in the freezer between missions. He remembers you because he used to be an American soldier and he kind of broke down when he realized that the ‘Captain America’ he was supposed to kill was the same guy he remembers from being American.”

Everyone looked stunned and Tony asked, “So, we were right? The Arm is original to him? He’s from World War Two?”

“Yeah, but they woke him up lots in between, usually to go kill people. So he has a lot of kills and now he’s remembering them.” She shook her head, “He’s convinced everyone will blame him and hate him.”

Loki looked around the room, “Probably because he blames himself and hates himself.”

“Like I said, a Hero.” She sighed, “I’m worried he’s going to try to kill himself, actually. I wouldn’t have left him alone, but if I brought him with me it would be a mess.” _Walking Bucky right into Steve? Yeah, a mess, like an earthquake is a bit of a rattle._

“Why?”

 _Because he’s Bucky Barnes, damn it._ “Because some of what he remembers goes directly to American history, and you guys.”

“Like remembering who I am?” Steve asked her gently.

 _I have GOT to change the topic._ “Yeah… Oh, hey, was there REALLY a Tijuana Bible of you and a Nazi girl? He mentioned it when I brought up fan fiction.”

Steve turned a blotchy red and his eyes went comically wide. “Oh, uh…”

“Really?” Fluffy giggled. _Shit that was worth it, he looked like he was going to bolt!_

Coulson spoke up suddenly. _Damn, the guy really could almost vanish into the wall, especially with THIS brightly colored crowd._ “There was, supposedly. There were a number of Tijuana Bibles featuring Captain America: they’re worth a small fortune today, of course; since they were printed on cheap paper, they didn’t last long. That one is more rumor than proven.” Coulson looked at Steve, “It existed?”

Steve-Captain Public Speeches–was actually stuttering. “Y-yes, it was, um… Remember how I said this bondage stuff wasn’t new? That one started with me, uh, Captain America being captured and, um, tied up and stuff… by ‘Ilse’ and then escaping and… Anyway, he ends up bringing her home on a leash,” he finished up very fast.

 “I think every member of the Howling Commandos had a copy, just to embarrass me.” Steve was flushing and looking pointedly off into the distance. “Bucky made me autograph his copy.”

 _If I bite my tongue any harder, I will bleed. If I bleed out of my mouth, people will ask why._ Fluffy stabbed at her food again. “Right, this sucks. So can I talk to some of you in private where you can throw things and scream and shit?”

“Who?” Darcy asked. “I mean, who first?”

“Tony. Better to get it over with. Obviously, you should bring Loki because you two are like joined at the brain anyway.”

“Soul, actually.” Loki was being pedantic.

“Yeah, whatever.” She put down a mostly unfinished container of food: for once, she didn’t have any appetite. “Let’s get this done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still getting my Avengers groove back, but i'm catching up. comments are gold.


	21. plus half a point on the hero scale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just tell him- parallels chapter 65 of parlor  
> posted a day early because of schedule. have fun

Fluffy got Tony to put away the heavy weapons and said, “Look, I don’t believe in sugar coating this shit. It’s bad: I don’t know how bad, because I don’t know how you feel about some people.”

“He killed someone I knew?”

“Yeah, he did. At least two people that he remembered, anyway.” Fluffy tried to imagine what it might be like if he actually gave a damn about his parents: _pretty bad, I suppose._ “So, like I said, he was messed up. He was their only successful super soldier, and they wanted more, so they needed to get their hands on samples of the original serum.”

“Okay… Well, there weren’t any more.”

She figured it was best just over with, like pulling off a waxing strip. “Yes, there were: your dad had them, in his car, with your mom, when Hydra sent the Winter Soldier to get the serum and kill all the witnesses.”

Tony stared at her with his eyes going unfocused. _Shit_. He looked further and further past her until he just fell over; luckily Loki caught him before he hit anything. Loki laid him out on the table and stood up.

Fluffy bit her lip and held her hands out, “Oh. So it is bad? I was kind of hoping since he hated his dad…” S _hit, I hope Loki doesn’t get mad that Tony passed out._

“He had a very poor relationship with his father, yes. He had no problems with his mother, however. Also, while I despise Odin, and Anthony’s relationship with his father was horrid as well, that doesn’t mean either of us could take their murder with equanimity.”

 _Sounded like fancy talk for “You speak villain, I speak hero, the language only sounds a bit similar” or maybe “My childhood wasn’t as sucky as yours was”?_ “Oh, I woulda cheered, but I guess I’m not a good judge of stuff like that.”

“I think you had best give me any further information and then get back to Jamie,” Loki said it gently, but you never knew with these smooth types.

“Shit.” She sighed, “Okay, well… The thing is, he’s Bucky Barnes.”

“Who?” Loki frowned. “Wait, the ‘Bucky’ that Rogers keeps talking about?”

“Yeah, his best buddy ever? The one who died? Except apparently he didn’t die–Hydra got him and worked him over. He didn’t even recognize that ‘Steve Rogers: Captain America’ his target was ‘Steve Rogers my best friend ever’ until we got to the hotel after the Smithsonian–”

“Bucky?” Tony’s voice was shaky. “Jamie is Bucky BARNES?!”

“Elskan mín, I thought you were unconscious.”

“Uh, sorry?” Fluffy said hesitantly. _Tony didn’t look like he was gonna flip: always a good sign_. “Yes, he’s Bucky Barnes–freaked me out standing next to the Bucky photo in the Smithsonian–and he didn’t even remember Steve was HIS Steve.”

Loki was trying to settle him down, but Tony shook him off and said, “No. Not now, Lo. Jarvis? Bring up the images of Bucky Barnes and the images of Jamie–cross compare.”

Jarvis projected images of Bucky Barnes onto the screens, and then placed images of Jamie next to them. It was obvious they were the same guy–Fluffy felt like kicking herself for not having realized ages ago. Jarvis did a lot of biometric comparisons and then said, “Match, Sir. The certainty is extremely high, allowing for the limited quality of the older images. If he is not James Buchanan Barnes, then he must be either a close relative with an unexpectedly high congruence of identifying features, or a clone.”

“Anyway, he remembered, and he told me, and I said I would handle it.” Fluffy sighed. “He didn’t choose to kill them, but he remembers killing them. I figured you needed to know–preferably before he threw himself at your feet whining about it.”

Tony looked very carefully neutral. “Is he sorry about it? Really?”

“I dunno, he was all ‘Oh My God, I killed Howard Stark! I didn’t even remember who he was!’ and ‘I killed Tony’s parents, he’s going to kill me, maybe he should, I’m a monster’, kind of alternating with shutting down behind the soldier face.” She shrugged. “I think part of the time he’s sorry and the rest of the time he’s trying to believe he actually did it.”

She looked at Tony and tried to say this as clearly as she could. “Seriously, he did what they told him to do. You saw the chair and heard the goons, right? They were going to have him kill Steve and he didn’t even know who that WAS.”

“When did he figure that out?”

“I think when I left him looking at the picture book in the hotel. We had to leave fast so I bought the picture book?” Tony must have seen the commemorative picture book because he just nodded. “He just phased out staring at it for hours, long enough for me to dye my hair and stuff–he never even looked up. Then he was going on about how Steve Rogers was ‘Stevie’ and asking me how he could be alive.”

Tony held up a hand and sat there for a while, it looked like he was having the old “kill him or go find a punching bag” debate in his head, and then he held a hand out to Loki and they both kind of phased out. Fluffy held her breath waiting for them to finish talking.

Tony opened his eyes with a decided look.

“If you really have to kill him–” she started to say.

“No, no, I don’t. I just… I may want to hit him a few times?”

 _Oh, thank KITTENS!_ “That’s cool, he can take it.”

“I probably won’t do that, either.”

“Well, can I be here? When you do whatever? Because he kind of flips into soldier mode sometimes and…” She waved her hands vaguely.

“When were you going to tell Steve?” Tony asked suddenly.

 _Huh?_ “After I found out if you were going to kill him or something. No point in getting him all happy about Bucky, and then spend, like, hours trying to explain that Jamie isn’t even sure he’s still the same guy, if you were going to blast him.”

“You’d seriously let me blast him?”

 _Yeah, obviously. Boy, am I glad I don’t have to._ “I was going to try to talk you out of it.”

“But if you couldn’t?”

“I was hoping I could.”

“And you wouldn’t have just told Steve?!”

“Why? So he can freak out that you killed his buddy?” _Is he nuts?_

“You would have kept that a secret from him?!”

“Uh, Tony… Let’s see, I can tell Steve that Jamie is Bucky–and I still don’t know how well that will go over, because, seriously, Jamie is pretty different, you know? Eventually, Jamie will blurt out how sorry he is about Howard, and you’ll find out. So, if I tell Steve first, you both find out and you might kill him… or I can tell you, make sure I know whether you’re going to kill him, and THEN tell Steve. That way, if you killed him, I have blackmail material, but otherwise Steve never has to know.” _See? Simple!_

Tony stared at her, “Blackmail for what?”

“I dunno… in case?” _Blackmail, you know… Oh… right… Heroes._ She mentally added at least a half point to Tony’s hero rating–Loki seemed to get it at least _._

“I’d rather have Jamie, though, so I’m really glad you aren’t going to kill him. It’s not his fault anyway, really.” She frowned, “Seriously, I’d really rather you didn’t kill him. I’ve gotten… sort of… fond of him.” _Shit, this hero stuff was contagious._

“I won’t kill him.” Tony sighed, “I probably won’t even hit him, but I want to know what he remembers.”

“He’ll either be all mixed up about it or give you an Asset report, so if that bugs you, you might not want to.”

“I’m going to need a bit to… adjust,” Tony admitted. “I think I’ll go over more of the Hydra files on the Asset: it makes me more sympathetic.” Tony took a deep breath.

“Cool. You do that. I’ll call Jamie and tell him it’s going well so he frets less, and then I gotta go talk to Remy.”

“He recognized you?” Loki asked.

“Apparently. Is he under the bindings?”

“Yes.”

“I guess that’s good. He’s cute–be kind of a pity if I killed him.”

“Killed him?” Tony looked dubious, “For recognizing your picture?”

“Depends on why he saw it,” she shrugged. “You take your break time; I’ll go chat with Remy. Then maybe we can tell Steve. Call me.” She walked out to find out just how bad this was going to be.


	22. Awesome Wears a Longcoat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Fluffy talks to Remy (Gambit)  
> TW past abuse, past child abuse, etc (not graphic)

Fluffy walked back out to the main room and immediately had everyone looking at her.

“What?” she asked as casually as she could manage.

“You… um, left your food,” Brucie said kind of softly. “You don’t, normally.”

She sighed and rubbed her nose, “Yeah, it takes a lot for my day to go from ‘eating for comfort’ over to ‘can’t eat’, but I managed. So?”

“Can we help?” Brucie asked, while the rest of the Avengers mostly looked earnest–even Natasha, although she did it a beat later than everyone else.

“No, honey, you’re a hero, even if you don’t have it as bad as the rest of them.”

Bobby–Iceman–was busy being earnest with the Avengers and jumped when Hero McHeropants–the blue furry one–shouted, “WHAT is wrong with being a hero? Seriously?!”

“It’s bad for your health.” She glared at him, “I’ve gotten hero all over me and its messing with my head–next thing you know, I’ll be letting…” _enemies live or some shit… Oh, fuck._

She sagged onto the floor. “Fuck. I caught it.”

“What?” Natasha asked and looked over at Clint like _“Do you have a clue?”_ and he looked back with _“Not a bit.”_

“Hero. I caught it. I’ve spent way too much time around you guys and I caught it. Is there, like, an antidote? Some kind of treatment or something? This is awful!”

“You… uh… aren’t making much sense, Fluffy,” Warren said, sounding all kinds of worried and useless.

“I actually was being UPSET about Jamie possibly getting killed! I mean, he turns out to be a HERO! They’re unreliable as fuck all!”

“HEY!” Fuzzy Blue yelped. “I’m reliable!” Several of the most Hero-y heroes looked like they were agreeing with him.

She started losing her temper. “NO YOU AREN’T! You guys say you’ll do something helpful and next thing you know it’s all, ‘Oh, I had no idea what you wanted to kill him: that would violate my ETHICS! Suddenly, the bastard has RIGHTS and you don’t, and I’m gonna arrest you!’ I’ve seen it–you DO shit like that all the time!”

Fluffy didn’t realize she was starting to set off sparks until Jarvis’s very proper British voice said, “I believe we discussed not damaging the entertainment media?”

“Huh?” Fluffy looked away from Yelper and realized there were a lot of concerned people looking at her–except for Darcy: girl was behind the bar counter like a sensible mundane. “Oh, sorry, Jarvis–good reflexes, Darce.”

“Quite alright, Miss; however, I would suggest you not get so upset near the weapons systems, either.”

“Perhaps we should delay our conversation?” Remy… That was Remy.

“Shit. No… Tony will only be just so long and then everything blows up. I better get this over with.”

Natasha spoke up, “The roof has minimal electronics.”

“Oh, hey, good idea,” Fluffy nodded. “I remember my way up. Come on, then, let’s get this over with.”

Bruce–who looked adorably concerned–asked, “Do you think you’ll want to finish this food afterwards?”

“I dunno, depends on how this goes. Might be real food, might need to go straight to eating ice cream right outta the carton while figuring out who I can kill.”

Bruce smiled a bit sadly, “We have three flavors of ice cream on hand, and I think Natasha knows where Pepper keeps her emergency stash.”

She went over and hugged him, “I knew I liked you best.”

Natasha looked over at Clint, “I can loan you Clint for a few hours–”

“Hey!”

“–and I know where some Hydra agents work, and it’s not far from a Sephora.”

“You’re moving up fast, girlfriend.” Fluffy almost sniffled, “How do you COPE? This Hero shit is sticky!”

“I dunno, I kind of hoped it would rub off, actually.”

Fluffy shook her head, “No, you don’t. It sucks: you start getting maudlin over whether people die or not.”

“Too late, then.” Natasha gave a quirked smile at her.

“She doesn’t have loaning authority,” Clint sighed, “but if you honestly think it would help–”

“I must be missing a great deal…” Remy said with a REALLY suggestive eyebrow arch.

“Depending on our conversation, I may fill you in.” She jerked her head toward the stairs up. “That way.”

~

Once they were up on the roof, Remy held his hands up, “I didn’t want to upset you.”

“Too late. So, how much do you know, and, more importantly, WHY do you know?”

“My guild was in a fight with another guild: we won, they lost. We were going through their holdings and… turns out they were involved in some more unsavory than usual things.”

She just looked at him. He sighed, “They were smuggling kids as well as adults–we knew about the adults–and had some of your films.”

“Oh? Which ones?”

“My Papa had me review the films,” he smiled sadly, “once we had an idea what was on them. I didn’t watch more than a few minutes of each so I can only tell you a little about which ones they were.”

“Which ones? And why you?”

“Me because Papa didn’t know how anyone else would react. I could easily have been in one of those, if things had been just a little different–he was certain I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

“You got a nice dad? How could you have been…”

“He took me in off the streets. We aren’t related, Cheri.”

“Ah.” She looked him up and down. “You’re good looking now–were you as a kid? Some good looking adults were goofy looking kids–not that that stops people.”

“Pretty much.” He shrugged. “You were a beautiful child, too.”

“Unfortunately. So, which ones?”

“There were at least twenty.”

“The ones with the other kids, the ones with the adults or a mixed group, because I was in WAY more than twenty.”

“Several with other kids, the rest with adults.” He was looking off past her shoulder as he continued, “We found two of the other kids, eventually.”

“Really? Which ones?”

“They were both younger than you, I think. The girl was a brunette with a scar on her neck; her name was Dora on the film. The other one was a boy, the only thing to set him apart was that he was a red head?” he glanced back at her.

“Ginger? Only one of the boys I remember was a ginger, I mean really ginger, a few of them had reddish hints. All over freckles like crazy?”

“Yes.”

“He was okay, at least then.” She shrugged, “People change fast. The girl with the neck scar? Dora, yeah… I think her real name might have been Dina, actually. I didn’t expect her to last long.”

“I know we got her to some of our contacts in the FBI,” he looked apologetic, “and handed over the tapes. Papa figured they would follow it up.”

“So Dora and freckles ended up in Louisiana?” He nodded. “And they got to the federal cops?” He nodded again. “Huh. Well, good for them. Hopefully, they survived.”

“I asked our agent about you.” He blinked suddenly, “You don’t seem too surprised that we knew people in the FBI–most people are.”

“Honey, please! I’m in the Hellfire Club: we have people in all the TLAs,” she snorted at him. “So, what did you hear about me?”

“You supposedly died,” he smiled faintly, “and you also supposedly haunt people to death and avenge other kids in the films.” He cocked his head at her and suddenly looked a lot younger. “He said he had heard a rumor that you either escaped or were taken in by someone else who was hunting down your old… contacts.”

“Try ‘producers’ or “rapist scumbags’,” she said helpfully, “although, honestly, some of them didn’t touch me themselves–sort of the dealer not sampling the drugs, I guess. I never thought that made it any better.”

“I’m glad to see you are alive and well.” He paused, “You’re a mutant, too?”

She snorted, “Alive? Sure. Well? I dunno, I guess. Mutant? Hell, yes. That’s how I got out. Powers came online during one of the parties. My owner was wining and dining some rich scumbags and figuring out how much he could get for renting me out for the weekend or if he was gonna sell me.”

He flinched.

“Powers came online and I fried ‘em all. Then I had to figure out how to get down from the penthouse floor with the windows blown out and no elevator.” She looked dubiously at him, “And I had other people offer to help, but, amazingly enough, once they find out you’re a mutant they switch over to trying to burn you at the stake or something.”

“I’ve seen that, yeah,” he flipped a card in his hand and it glowed for a moment, “being one myself.”

“Figured, what with you being in with the X-Heroes.”

“They don’t like my background much.”

“What? Turning child porn over to the FBI?”

“My Papa maybe didn’t like using kids, but we weren’t innocent. They don’t like me being a thief, killing people.”

“Try looking cuter, they usually forget. Besides, I never got the impression Wolvie was exactly a stranger to killing people.”

Remy laughed, “I think he’s mostly worried I’m a spy.”

“Oh.” She shrugged, “Hellfire Club always has an opening. We steal stuff and kill people a lot, it’s cool.”

“I’d rather be out of it,” he sighed, “although it does seem to follow you, eh?”

“Beats me.” She paused, “Yeah, once on the internet, images never die, I know, but most of the folks who have seen my films aren’t people I leave alive–you know?”

“Can’t blame you for dat,” he nodded, “but I wasn’t watching because I liked them.”

“Which is why you get to live, sweetie.”

“So who helped you get out and hunt them down? If I can ask.”

“Well, you shouldn’t–ask, I mean–but since the answer is no one, it doesn’t matter.”

“No one?!”

“Well, later I found the Club, but, like I said, people are all eager to help until they find out you want to kill the bastards–like most of them would ever see trial–or you’re a mutant, then suddenly you’re the bad guy and those scumbags get to go laugh at the country club with their judge friends.”

“You think maybe we’re a bit cynical?” he smiled.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m EXTREMELY cynical. Probably why I like the villains side better: fewer disappointments.”

“They’ll turn on you, though.”

“People do all the time, so?”

“I think the hero side is less likely to stab me in the back.” He looked thoughtful, “At least they tell you before they do.”

She had to concede that one, “Yeah, the real heroes do warn you, at least. The religious types don’t: they just try to set the building on fire with you in it, or suddenly wake you up at night throwing oil and holy water on you or some shit.”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s a funny story–now, anyway: religious bunch decided I was possessed, so like oh-fuck-early twenty of them show up in my bedroom and start reading Bible verses and throwing anointing oil and holy water and shit on me while a couple tried to pin down my blanket on me. Took me a while to calm down enough and stop frying the dead bodies and dig my way out. Luckily, the wall blew outward…” she trailed off at the stunned look on his face. “You gonna puke or something?”

“No… just… I thought I might have to rescue you, when I first recognized you.” He flashed a lopsided grin at her that about melted her socks.

“Wow, you could like put on a warning before you flash that kind of grin at me–now I’m picturing Jamie and you in one bedroom…”

He looked startled and raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t think you would be interested.”

“I prefer being in control, for obvious reasons,” she snorted at him, “but yeah, I like sex–just not usually with anyone who’s seen my films. Give me a bit to cope with this mess and I might consider it: you’re good looking and I really love the accent.”

“I’m flattered, and I would need to move past some of the memories… I remember sitting in a small room finding out what was on those films a bit too well.” He looked pained for a moment and then smiled again, “So tell me about Jamie? Who is he?”

She winced and he looked apologetic.

“Nah, don’t sweat it, the problem is that’s the problem… who is he. I called him Jamie because he didn’t even remember his own name–I wasn’t calling him the Asset or the Soldier, ya know–and Jamie sounded right to him… like naming a cat?”

He nodded slowly.

“Well, now he remembers who he is.”

“An American–from the war, you said.”

“Yup, that’s like the least of it and you might wanna get your X-Men buddies the hell outta here because it’s already messy and about to get messier.”

“Tony has been very kind, so have the rest of the Avengers, and I am their guest.”

“Honey, I’m not hurting them. It’s just upsetting news and it’s all hella kinds of personal, but if your buddies don’t have the sense to duck–and feathers won’t, he never did have much sense–it’s not on me.”

He nodded. “All that aside, I am glad to see you made it out.”

“When there’s no one left breathing who’s seen those films–okay, except maybe cops or something; I hadn’t thought about that–I’ll be ‘out’; until then, I’m still in.” She grinned at him and didn’t bother to hide the edges, “I just changed the genre of the movie: I prefer being the monster to being the victim.”

“Doesn’t sound like you’re the monster–more like the gritty hero.”

“Heroes, ick,” she shuddered. “I gotta get back down there before it blows up without me.”

He held out an arm and smiled at her, “Shall we?”

“After you, Captain Tightpants.”

He blinked at her and asked, “Is that… I‘ve heard people say that… It’s a quote?”

“Oh, Geez… I’ll tell Tony to load up the series,” she shook her head. “You cannot wear a badass long coat and not know that series…” She frowned suspiciously at him, “Have you seen Supernatural?”

“I’ve seen a little of it,” he said sort of hesitantly.

“Spike? Sherlock? Doctor Who?!”

He offered hesitantly, “I saw a Sherlock movie, and I’ve heard of Doctor Who…”

She took off at a dead run.

“TONY! Tony! Cultural emergency! Dude is wearing a long coat and doesn’t know his HERITAGE!!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://themetapicture.com/long-coats-make-you-awesome/
> 
> and if you want to see Remy in the line up: http://fandomania.com/the-top-twelve-long-coats-in-sci-fi-and-fantasy/
> 
> ps. Kpop fandom already knew this as many of the music videos feature longcoats
> 
> EDITED TO ADD: fro here we go straight to Chapter 66 of Will you Walk into my Parlor


	23. Star Spangled Headaches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> talking to Captain America  
> TW on past abuse obviously, also language because Fluffy

She had just gotten calmed down a bit, and they were setting up a “cute guys in long-coats” marathon, when of COURSE she got reminded that she had to talk to Steve. _Yeah, it better be soon or Jamie will have fits. Gah, me? Talking to Captain America?_ Fluffy grabbed her bag on the way up to the roof.

Steve obligingly let her pretend she was pushing him–he had a great back. Fluffy sort of wanted to see it covered in stripes, but he didn’t seem the sort.

“You know, what’s sad? Now that we’re allies there’s like next to no chance of ever seeing you stripped down and in decorative chains?” She didn’t realize she’d said that out loud until he stumbled over his own feet and started coughing. “Oh, yeah, sorry–outside voice…”

Eventually he finished coughing. “Uh… I thought that was the sort of thing you and your friends did voluntarily…”

“Lots of people do stuff voluntarily,” she shrugged. “But, you know, heroes… villains… it’s usually the aftermath of a fight–I mean, if things go really, really well.”

“I would think that would be really, really badly…” he smiled at her even past the blushing.

“DAMN, you’re pretty. Well, badly depends on who’s losing… Why, you maybe wanna pick this discussion up voluntarily?”

“I… um…” He flushed some more and stared at the wall. “I have no idea, actually. Just because I know about the bondage stuff a little doesn’t mean I ever tried it.”

“I’m guessing it’s not something you would know how to bring up,” she grinned. “Maybe you could hand them that ‘Captain America and the Nazi’ comic and see whether they start drooling or not?”

“I’d, uh, have to draw it… I don’t think any of them exist anymore.”

“You know, if you blush any harder…”

“So you wanted to drag me up here to flirt?”

“Oh, I wish…” She grabbed one of the deck chairs and shoved it in his direction. “Sit down, this is complicated.”

“And that wasn’t?!”

“No, honey, that was me enjoying the view as your super dick threatens your chinos.”

He collapsed into the chair, laughing and blushing, and she noticed that he was trying to hide the erection… She started laughing.

“You are really something else…” he finally gasped out. “Damn, I thought with all the practice keeping a straight face around the guys…”

“If you tell me I remind you of some little girl in a gingham dress from your home neighborhood I will, so help me, punch you.”

He stopped laughing and wiped his eyes. “Jamie said that?”

“Yeah, among other things.”

“Every little girl I knew had a gingham dress at some point. They were inexpensive and looked good and they got passed down from older sisters and cousins–I guess people don’t do that much now–so it would have been pretty common if he’s from the same time I am–but, no… you definitely don’t remind me of a little girl.”

She sat down, keeping her bag at hand. “Okay, so let’s get the Tony part over with… Jamie did a lot of REALLY bad stuff, because of what Hydra did.”

Steve nodded, “Yeah, I got that.”

“Among other things, he killed some people that Tony knew when he was younger. That’s why I had to talk to him first, because of that.”

Steve went wide eyed. “Tony knows it wasn’t his fault, doesn’t he?”

“THAT’s why I went over the brainwashing stuff first, and yeah, he does: in fact, he’s taking it way better than I hoped. Now I get to find out if you do, too.”

“He killed someone I knew?”

“No… it’s complicated.” She saw him relax a bit and sighed. “Look, cherry pie, you gotta–”

“Cherry pie?”

“You aren’t apple, anyway… Look, you HAVE to get this through your head: he ISN’T the same guy he was before they got him. He’s remembering a lot, so it’s better, but he’s been a brainwashed assassin and then thrown in the ice–lather, rinse, repeat–since the war.”

“You sound different when you’re being serious.”

She snapped out, “Yeah, well this is serious as fuck all, soldier, so get your head into this!”

Steve sighed and muttered, “You sound like Peggy.”

“And that was deliberate, because that’s what Jamie says whenever I start giving orders.” Steve looked up in confusion. “Either I sound like Peggy Carter, or some redheaded girl in a gingham dress named Ginny.”

Fluffy held her breath. Steve stared at her, and his face slowly paled. She was glad she’d had him sit down because he looked like he might have fallen down.

“There was a bossy little girl named Ginny in my old neighborhood; Peggy reminded me of her except… uh… grown up.” A brief smile flashed over his face, “That, and I can’t imagine Ginny growing up to look that good.”

“I swear to God, if you start singing ‘You Musta Been a Beautiful Baby’ at me, I will fry you.”

Steve shook his head, “Are you telling me this guy was one of the recruits from my old neighborhood? Like he knew ME?”

“Yeah, Steve.” She sighed, “And he was assigned to kill you. You were one of his targets and he didn’t even remember that he knew you.”

Steve sat back, still looking a bit green, “That… That must have been a lot of brainwashing.”

“Yeah,” she tried to sound a bit gentler, “Jamie started remembering after I got him and told him it was okay to remember, but it came back in pieces. Like he remembered the girl in the gingham dress, but not his old name…”

Steve was just sitting there looking lost, so she continued quietly, “When I mentioned that he had a Brooklyn accent sometimes, but the Soviet star on his bionic Arm didn’t make sense, Roberto–he’s a friend–said, ‘He could be a Macy’s Ad gone wrong’–”

Steve laughed despite himself and smiled at her.

She continued quietly, watching his face, “And he remembered going to a Macy’s parade with his friend, and it was cold and raining… and his friend got pneumonia and almost died…”

Steve looked exactly like the invisible man had punched him in the gut. She waited. He finally stared at her and hoarsely whispered, “But that’s Bucky… He died; I saw him.”

“You saw him fall off a train and never found the body, right? He’d already been given the serum or something like it, remember? He fell into the cold, almost dead, and got dragged off… They turned him into their assassin–”

Fluffy cut off as he moved to his feet, spun, and punched the wall. Concrete flew. _Damn, he was fast._ He hit the wall a couple more times and she saw blood.

“Don’t make me get out the tranqs…”

He spun, “Bucky?! This guy everyone’s talking about is BUCKY?!”

“Apparently. I didn’t know until we were at the Smithsonian and he was standing right next to the picture.”

“How could they not recognize BUCKY?!”

“Um… Were YOU thinking that this guy was Bucky? Even after you knew he was from the war? Why do you think–”

“They SAW him!”

“Jamie was talking about you as a target; he’s standing there with me with his metal arm, dressed in modern clothes; and no one has ever seen Bucky Barnes in real life except YOU–why the hell do you think we would GUESS that Jamie, the Hydra brainwashed assassin, was the ‘everyone knows he’s dead’ Bucky Barnes?!” She looked at the blood dripping from his hands. “Jarvis? You awake?”

“Yes, Miss Morgan. How may I be of service?”

“First Aid kit?”

“Certainly, Miss.”

“Jarvis?” Steve asked, his voice was rough as hell, “You saw him…”

“When she told Mister Stark, he asked me to run a comparison. All of the identifying features match to within expected tolerances. Miss Morgan’s Jamie is almost certainly Sergeant Barnes. The only other explanation would be a–”

“Fine, I got it.” Steve stared at her, “Why did you tell Tony first?”

“Because Jamie was carrying on about who he killed, and he was convinced Tony would kill him.” Before Steve could say anything she glared at him and went on, “And I was pretty worried about it, too, because Tony was pretty damned upset. Luckily, he’s a really forgiving guy and he understands that Jamie wasn’t making the decisions.”

A small Roomba-like thing trundled out of a small hatch with a medical kit. She went over and opened it. Jarvis started giving instructions; apparently Tony kept the good stuff on hand.

Steve held his hands out sort of numbly in response to her barked “Hands!” and she sprayed some kind of cleaner on them.

He flinched, “Ow. Jarvis, tell Tony he needs to work on his supplies–that stings.”

“Mister Stark usually requires a bit of a reminder that he should be more careful. Making it less of a reminder has not been my priority,” Jarvis said primly.

Fluffy laughed, “So it stings on purpose?”

“Yes. If the injuries were severe, or not self-inflicted, I would have told you to use the other spray.”

Steve muttered something about “Only Tony…”

Fluffy started spraying on the next medication, which didn’t apparently sting: it seemed to include a sort of liquid bandage because he stopped dripping blood. “Hey, this stuff is skin toned?” she asked.

“Yes, Miss. It enables Mister Stark to attend to business without people noticing his injuries.”

“He needs better safewords, then,” she said drily. Steve blushed.

“Since he has taken up with Mister Laufeyson, his injuries have been expertly tended to or magically healed. I find this far preferable, especially since Mister Stark has a longstanding habit of not using a safeword when he should.”

“Yeah, I heard that about him.” Fluffy wrapped his hands in sports wrap anyway, “There you go.”

“Thanks, you’re pretty good at this.” He was standing there looking down.

“And I’m neither Ginny, nor Peggy, nor anyone’s mom.” She glared at him. “Especially since I want to fuck both of you.”

He choked hard and sputtered, “JESUS! Don’t say things like that!”

She shrugged, “Why not? It’s true.”

He put a hand over his face and started muttering; she didn’t understand a word of it. Eventually, he looked over his hand at her, “Are… Are you and Bucky… uh…”

“NO, dammit! Those Hydra goons messed him up real bad: he keeps panicking. They pretty well insisted he never take an active role or defend himself, ya know? So we’ve gotten a lot of kissing and necking but–” She stopped as she watched Steve’s expression turn murderous. _It was a good look on him, but kind of worrisome._

“They…” He took a deep breath, “Does anyone else know?”

“I think he said enough in the van that Natasha, Clint, and Tony could’ve figured it out.” She shrugged.

“You can’t let people know about–”

She walked up and poked him in the chest, “I’m telling YOU because you need to understand what you’re dealing with. He’s been through hell and come out the other side and he’s still a goddamn hero! Most other people would be a whimpering wreck. Now let me get something straight here: ONE, I own his ass, and the rest of him–”

Steve tried to say something and she stomped on his foot, hard. “Ow!”

She kept going, “TWO, he’s utterly guilt stricken and thinks everything is his fault and nothing is, because he totally didn’t choose to do any of that–ARE WE CLEAR?!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” he said, backing up a step and almost coming to attention.

“THREE, it’s his decision who he tells what, but there is no fucking shame in being a rape victim. He tried to fight back and got taught that he can’t. He stopped fighting and worked on surviving. If any of you so much as say BOO at him about that, I will fry you until you glow!”

“Yes, Ma’am! Uh… You’re glowing a bit…”

“Oh. Yeah, sorry, what with having had people tell me how much more I shoulda fought back–but not that way–I take it kind of personally….”

“You…?” he turned funny colors and got murderous-looking again, “Are any of them still alive?”

She looked at him suspiciously, “Maybe, why?”

“Point me at them and I’ll make sure they never bother anyone again.”

“I usually kill them, slowly.”

“I’d rather it be quicker, but I get it.”

She blinked. “You… Aren’t going to start on with the ‘killing is always bad’ thing?”

“It would be better if they went to trial,” he admitted, “but it’s not always possible, especially with Hydra and… rich people.”

She stood there staring at him in shock.

“Are… Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” She shook her head, “Wow, who’da thought… Okay, well none of this mess is ever ending up in court, ya know? Especially since they might try to hold Jamie accountable for murder or something.”

“It wasn’t his fault!”

“Yeah? You wanna try to explain that to the press? The judges?”

“Uh, no?”

“Right, which is why it’s a good thing Tony forgives him for killing his parents.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the slow updates. i have a jewelry show and i need the time to make jewelry. think profitable thoughts!


	24. three way call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve, Fluffy, and Bucky makes three....  
> posting this a tad early for one of my readers who has surgery tomorrow. speedy recovery!

Steve was staring at her with a really weird expression.

“Hello?” she asked cautiously.

“Bucky… killed Howard?” Steve said in a strangled tone.

“Huh? Howard and Maria Stark? Yeah… Only it was The Winter Soldier under orders from Hydra… something about getting the rest of the super serum? Anyway, he didn’t know who they were–”

Steve collapsed into the chair and put his head into his hands.

“Uh…” She edged up carefully. “Steve? Hello?” Nothing. “Second best pair of shoulders? Cat perch? Awesome butt?” Nothing. He was just sitting there with his head in his hands.

“Jarvis? Uh, I think… Is this like one of those things I should have known but I don’t?”

“I believe so, Miss. Captain Rogers was apparently rather close friends with Howard Stark, a fact which was an issue in Tony Stark’s relationship with his father, and with Captain Rogers.”

She took a deep breath and tried to figure out what normal people would do with this situation and came up blank. “Okay, I give up. I got no clue how to cope with this. Fuck it. I’ve done my part. Toss it all in a blender and let it sort itself out from here.”

She walked over to a distance where she could still see Steve but she figured he wasn’t listening and got out her phone–she’d gotten a replacement first thing–to call Jamie. It took a while for him to answer.

“Hello?” He sounded worried.

“I was starting to worry when you didn’t answer.”

“Is… Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, Tony might beat you up a little.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” He sounded relieved.

“Steve’s here.”

There was a clatter as he dropped the phone. She was glad she’d insisted he always answer and hold the phone in his meat hand.

Eventually he picked it up again. “He’s… there? Did you… Uh... Does he know?”

“Yeah, he was coping pretty well until the end; now I think I broke him.”

“How’d you break Steve if telling him about me didn’t do it?!”

“I dunno, maybe it was cumulative?” She chewed on a strand of hair. “Look, just get over to the tower.”

“I don’t know if–”

“That was an order, Jamie.”

After a pause, “Yes, Ma’am.”

She grinned, “He said “Yes, Ma’am” a lot, too… I barked orders at him since they worked so well on you.”

“Don’t do that–the punk’ll fixate on you like he did on Peggy.”

“You aren’t convincing me not to,” she sang out. “Get a ride over here; bring the bike, but I don’t want you driving just yet.”

Jamie sighed, “Yes, Ma’am.”

She’d taken her eyes off Steve while she was talking and almost dropped the phone when a voice, right behind her, said, “Bucky?”

“Kittens! Don’t startle a girl like that, I coulda fried you!”

She heard a voice on the phone make a startled noise and swear in what she thought was Russian. Steve picked the phone out of her hand before she could stop him.

~

“Bucky?” _Steve’s voice, allowing for a phone…_

He was suddenly a million miles–or years–away: _images of a dance floor, a battle field…_ “Maybe? I was… Fluffy calls me Jamie…”

Steve took a deep breath and steadied himself. “She doesn’t look a damn thing like Ginny or Peggy, but she’s got the ‘Don’t give me any lip, soldier’ down to an art…”

Jamie chuckled, “Yeah, and she’s exactly the sort you’d go for, isn’t she? Like Linda…”

“Linda was your girl!”

“And don’t forget it, Punk!” Bucky’s easy chuckle was cut off suddenly as his head spun. “Linda… She was… My head hurts.”

“Either put this on speaker, or take it up when you get here,” Fluffy said loudly enough that Bucky heard her over the phone.

“Uh, how? I don’t know this phone…”

“Here…” A lot of clicks later, she said, “There, on speaker. Jamie? You okay?”

 _Fluffy’s voice was calming: she’d handle it._ “Yes, Ma’am.”

“You …” There was a pause, “You do NOT own him!” _Oh, Geez, Stevie was getting his back up…_

“Yeah, I do,” Fluffy said calmly.

“Yeah, actually, she does,” Jamie said slowly. “If nothing else, Steve, I owe her–I owe her a lot more than my life.”

“You can’t OWN people!”

“What was it you said about laws and rich people? That goes triple for laws and ‘he doesn’t exist he died over fifty years ago’–and besides, someone needs to take care of him!”

“Bucky can take care of himself! And if anyone needed to take care of him, I would!”

“Punk! You can’t even take care of yourself, you little shit! How are you going to take care of me when I don’t have my head on straight?!”

“Bucky, I won’t let you–”

~

Fluffy started to say something when there was a sudden snap in Jamie’s voice, “Since WHEN do you LET me do anything, you idjit! You can’t even take care of yourself! If I hadn’t–”

“You got CAPTURED, asshole!” Steve was yelling at the phone and balling has fists up. “If I hadn’t disobeyed orders–”

“And I’m grateful for that, but this isn’t the same thing at all!”

“You need–”

“You have no idea what I need!”

Fluffy whistled sharply; they both stopped. “Ahem,” she said firmly but quietly, raising an eyebrow at Steve. “There are ladies present: they may be downstairs–because I am sure as hell no lady–but there are some. Now both of you…” She glared some more at Steve. “Jamie, load the bike in a van, get a driver, and get your ass over here.”

“Yes, Ma’am… Uh… Sorry?”

Steve looked back and forth like he really didn’t know what to do and finally muttered, “Sorry about the language.”

“I’m hanging up MY phone now. See you when you get here.”

 “You can’t own people,” Steve said stubbornly after she hung up.

“Whether you call it owning him, or he owes me, or whatever, that’s between me… and him. Now, let’s go down and fill everyone in. You can sit there and sympathize with Tony over the owning people thing.”

Steve froze. “Oh, my God, he killed Howard…”

“This again?!”

“Howard was my friend! He… He made the serum, with Doctor Erskine…”

“Uh-huh. And Hydra wanted the other serum and they made more super soldiers, or tried to. We still haven’t worked that out yet.”

“But HOWARD! He killed–”

“Shut it!” He snapped his mouth closed and looked shocked at her. “DAMN, I want you on a leash… Anyway, look: YES, he killed Howard and Maria Stark; NO, he didn’t even remember who they were; YES, I told Tony first–I didn’t even realize you knew him that well–and Tony may want to beat him up a bit but has agreed not to kill him. Given just HOW bad a hero Tony is, he probably won’t even hit him.”

Steve had been flushed and spluttering, but finally managed to choke out, “How can you forgive someone for killing your parents!?”

“Sweetie? Cherry pie? Cat perch?” she said sweetly–he looked annoyed. “Don’t ask me, I would have cheerfully killed my parents for what they did. Tony got sick and fainted, and it’s only the fact that he KNOWS Jamie wasn’t in his right mind that let him be at all reasonable about it.”

“Right… he… he knows more about what happened to Bucky, doesn’t he…?”

“YES, yes he does. Why don’t we go talk to him?” She scooped up her bag and pointed at the stairwell.

Steve turned and walked off quickly.

“Jarvis? Let Tony know?”

“Already in process, Miss.”

“Thanks. This was all a lot simpler before I caught Hero-ing,” she muttered, and followed Captain America down the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am off line until Friday in all likelihood for a jewelry show. comments will be adored and petted when i get back!


	25. No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky, Steve, and Fluffy in one room, what could go wrong?

Fluffy sat in the gym watching Steve Rogers run round the perimeter, occasionally pausing to hit a punching bag. He was trying to burn off the nervous energy–it didn’t seem to be working– and she was writing porn fan fic in her head.  Every now and then she took a picture– he’d said he didn’t mind– and scribbled some notes.

The faint edge of something… color? Sound?... at the edges of her mind told her Emma was trying to contact her.

“Hey Boss Lady, what’s up?” His back muscles flexed as he punched the bag: the Hydra agent, currently pretending to be a low level intern, smiled at the thought of those muscles flexing in restraints, and dropped two pills in the coffee…

“Jamie will be there shortly– what Hydra agent? Coffee?... oh, writing again?”

Fluffy grinned and  focused on the sight of a stripped down Steve Rogers jogging around the gym.  She could almost FEEL Emma’s attention sharpen.

“Ahem, yes… well... quite nice, but we are allied.” Emma didn’t quite manage to stifle the “damn it”.

“Not in my fan-fic we’re not!” Captain Rogers?  Your coffee… she smiled pleasantly and handed him the coffee.  You need to get cleaned up, there’s a meeting… There wasn’t, of course, but there were two of her associates waiting in the locker room.

“…I… will want to read your story when it’s done.” Emma’s cool ‘voice’ in her head being tinged with something warmer.

Fluffy cackled, and must have had some of it leak out into her outside voice because Steve paused in his run to look over at her. Emma signed off with amusement.

“You okay?” Steve asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah, just writing smutty fan-fic! You’re about to be kidnapped and chained down by the updated version of Ilse she-wolf of the SS–”

He turned colors of red she never pictured and resolutely went over to punch the bag– which he did with more force than before.  She noted that he was VERY deliberately keeping his back to her.

The door opened quietly and Jamie was standing there looking a bit lost.

Fluffy grinned evilly and raised her voice, “So, that Tijuana Bible… what did they have her do to you? I should duplicate it in my fan-fic.”

“Nothing” punch “fit” punch “for mixed” punch, punch, punch “company”

“I was thinking about having her wait until you woke up and then running a riding crop over your chest while she threatened you…” _hmmm… no that wasn’t quite right, although Jamie was grinning_ , “but then I thought riding crops are overdone, what about just dragging her manicured and polished nails down your chest–” _THAT did it,_ he actually missed the bag!

Jamie was grinning broadly, and in pure New York chimed in, “Hell, have her put on lipstick, Punk was always a sucker for it.”

“Bucky!” It came out as a whine before he even turned around, and Fluffy was laughing her ass off, “Do you have…to…” he had turned and was staring at Jamie with a totally wide eyed look.  _He looked TWELVE, Jesus!_

“It is you,” Jamie  said quietly, with that faintly lopsided grin, “still don’t know how to handle a dame coming on to you.”

“Bucky?” he was walking up slowly, “I guess I can see why they didn’t recognize you…”

“What? Because I’m dead?” Jamie just looked at him and some of the expression flattened out, “I didn’t recognize me, why would anyone else?”

They were standing just about an arm’s length apart.

“You… You look older.”

“And you don’t.”

“I was only woken up right before the invasion.”

“I was woken up a lot, for months at a time, sometimes.  I guess it’s been a few years at least for me– not sure.”

The click of the camera probably wouldn’t have been heard by anyone mundane, but they were supers… they both turned and startled at Fluffy like they’d forgotten she was there.

“Great pic!” she said cheerfully. “So, should I have the wicked lady have her way with you and then you escape? Or what?”

Steve flushed again; Jamie laughed, “well what are you going for? You could always have him get rescued by some other dame, get a cat fight going…”

“Oooh, nice idea!” she made notes. “Natasha? Heretofore unknown original character?”

“Can- can we NOT?” Steve sounded strangled.

“Look, sugar butt, I CAN’T write the fan-fic I’m thinking about because “Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers  trying to escape the evil dominatrix” would… hmmm…” she trailed off scribbling in her note book.

“Sugar Butt?!” Jamie cackled at Steve, “SUGAR BUTT?!”

“Like you haven’t been called worse, Buck?”

The weight of history crashed down on him and he just stood there, “Yeah, I been called a lot worse, especially lately.”

“NO SULKING!” Fluffy snapped.

He jumped like a scalded cat. “I wasn’t–”

“No moping either.” She glanced back down at her notebook and fiddled with the phone

“She doesn’t own you, Bucky–”

“You don’t have any idea what’s going on!” Jamie shouted at him.

“No, I don’t! I thought you were DEAD!”

“I woulda been if it weren’t for her saving my life!”

“You can move in here and we’ll–”

“This isn’t even your building!”

“I don’t care!”

Jamie turned to Fluffy and started to say something, Steve grabbed his arm and pulled, Bucky turned around and swung… Steve flew backward into the gym and landed in an ungainly heap.

“Oh my GOD, Steve? Steve!?” _I HIT him– Jesus Christ, Stevie…_

Steve stood up slowly, “So… that’s the new arm they told me about?” Steve shook himself out a bit.

“Yeah… are… are you okay?” Bucky went over to try to make sure and the little weasel decked him.

“Yeah,” Steve flexed his hand thoughtfully, “I think my swing is still okay: you?”

Bucky laughed, “That all you got?”

Steve looked him up and down and started to smile, “No, not even close.”

“Still think you can take on the world?”

Steve grinned, “Better able to now, anyway.”

Bucky grabbed him and threw him; Steve flipped in mid-air and was back at him.  It got loud, and crazy, and at some point Bucky was fairly sure he was in an upside down headlock.  He threw Steve off and into the punching bag, and somehow the punching bag went sailing across the room at him.  Eventually he had Steve   down on the floor hollering “uncle!”

He let Steve up slowly– both of them grinning like loons– and then they both looked over because they heard clapping.

“AWESOME!!! You two should do that again but nude!” Fluffy looked very enthused.

“Uh…”

Steve just looked down and shook his head.

“We- we could never roughhouse like that… before.  Either Stevie was too sick, or he was Captain America and I wasn’t.”

Fluffy grinned, “Yeah, well, now you can. I’m thinking Greek wrestling, with oil.”

Bucky started laughing, “You’ve got a one track mind!”

“Nope, two– food. Speaking of which, they sent food down.”

Steve wasn’t inclined to let go of Bucky’s arm, the good one, so when Jamie went over with Fluffy to eat, so did he.

Fluffy promptly got entirely wrapped up in assembling some kind of noodle concoction.

“Is she always this obsessed with food?” Steve asked Bucky quietly.

Bucky shrugged, “As far as I can tell, yeah.”

“Have-have you been okay?  The team said you were… ah...”

“Tortured repeatedly, drugged, electroshocked…” Fluffy didn’t even look up from her food.

Jamie winced, “Ma’am, have you dealt with Steve? You didn’t tell me much, and he wasn’t here when I was.”

“Yeah, I climbed all over him.  He’s cute, blushed too much, responds REALLY nicely to orders, and I wanna seem him naked, in chains and–” she stopped as Jamie was clutching his head.

Steve went from blushing and trying to ignore what she was saying, to grabbing worriedly at Bucky, “Bucky?”

“Back off, Captain,” Fluffy sighed, “Jamie? Jamie… I’m NOT going to hurt him.  Have I hurt you?”

“No, Ma’am…”

Since Steve wasn’t letting go of him she just took hold of his metal Arm and tugged him down to the floor. “Sit down.”

Steve ended up following him to the ground a moment later but by that point Fluffy had crawled into Bucky’s lap.

“Jamie?  People play games with stuff like that; it doesn’t have to mean anything bad.”

It took every bit of will he had to say it, to even think it: “No. not Steve… not…”

He passed out.

Steve was trying to wake him up, and just about to call for help when Fluffy stood up and brushed herself off, “Well that’s a good sign, dontcha think?”

“What?!” Steve stood up with his fists balled up, seeing red…

“Yeah,” Fluffy said smiling cheerfully, “I think that might have been the first time he ever said ‘No’ to me–to his handler.  I mean it sucks, kind of, but he had ‘No’ beaten out of him pretty hard.”

“You’re…happy? That he… said no to you?”

She looked thoughtful, “Kind of happy, kind of pissed off.” She shrugged. “It’s complicated.  Anyway, eat your food, he’ll wake up in a bit– he always does.”

 


	26. Fan-fic and strawberries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy, Steve, and Bucky continue their talk.  
> NOTE: no character''s views are "word of God". Just because a character believes something doesn't make it the truth (or not)
> 
> My apologies for the lack of proof reading.

He’d tried to say no, back in the early days: it just meant more drugs, more pain.  He’d tried to say no at a point later– at least he thought he had, it was hard to remember– he’d been wiped and sent back for re-training. Steve couldn’t go through any of this, he couldn’t…

“You can’t feed someone who’s unconscious!  He’ll choke! Trust me, he’ll wake up.”

If they got their hands on Steve, he’d shatter.  _God!  That guy? Jasper?  He’d been talking about STEVE…?_   Of course they wanted the other Super Soldier… theirs hadn’t worked out as well…

Memories of other men, fighting, having to win…

“Jamie? Jamie, you’re thrashing around and you’re gonna spill my food.  Wake up.”

“Who cares if he spills your food? He’s having a seizure!”

“No, he isn’t: he’s having a nightmare…” her voice changed tone, “Asset, report!”

His eyes opened, although he wasn’t really seeing anything, “Capabilities at nominal, Arm functional, I am uninjured: Ready to Comply.”

“Jesus…”

The Asset focused on a figure standing off to one side. “Captain America, target?”

“No, Jamie, remember? Target list changed.”

“Target… changed… Hydra…” Bucky slowly remembered where he was.  Fluffy was crouched in front of him holding out a shake. PRIORITY OVERRIDE: DO NOT HARM

“Drink it.”

He drank it without thinking.

“Do you remember who I am?”

“You are called Fluffy, you are my handler…”he said slowly; the Asset falling away– images of the Hellfire Club, a motorcycle, a museum, the lab…Director Pierce…– “Jamie, I’m called Jamie…and Bucky Barnes. I’m back in New York, and you saved me.”

“Bucky? Are you alright?” Steve was staring at him.

“Bucky isn’t alright.” He said looking away quickly, “I didn’t even remember who you were.”

“You said no to me,” Fluffy said very softly.  He started to apologize but she put a finger on his lips, “What did I tell you?”

“I- I can say no…? but… but that was just about sex…”

Steve started cursing under his breath in Gaelic.

“Shut UP Punk, you know I don’t  understand you,” he narrowed his eyes and stood up glaring at Steve– _it was weird having him be my height_ –“but I understand a couple of those words and both our mom’s would wash your mouth out with soap!”

Fluffy grabbed his Arm. “You can’t do your job if you faint: eat!”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Fluffy glared at Steve, “You too, mister!”

Steve took a step backward in the face of a short woman with her hands on her hips, “Err… yes, Ma’am? Miss?”

“I MIGHT be older than you, by time awake, I have no clue. Now BOTH of you sit down, shut up, and…” she frowned, “HANDS!”

Both of them held their hands out with their eyes wide and looking guilty.

Fluffy groaned, “I am a terrible owner. Luckily you have the immune systems to take it,” she sighed. “Boys’ room: wash up, then get your asses back here and eat.”

They both  muttered, “Yes’m” and scrambled off.

Once they were out of the room Fluffy grinned up at the ceiling, “Jarvis? I could get used to this.”

“Indeed, Miss Morgan,” Jarvis’ voice sounded smug, “and given your ability to get Mister Stark to eat, and Miss Lewis’ ability to get Mister Laufeyson to eat, I believe I could  justify hiring the two of you…”

~

“Why are we in here washing up?” Steve muttered.

“Because Fluffy is worse than Ginny?” Jamie answered and then paused, “No, not really– Ginny was just bossy, Fluffy actually knows what she’s doing.  She got us out of Washington after the museum.”

“You don’t have to listen to her.”

Jamie looked at Steve thoughtfully, “Who else am I gonna listen to? I still can’t get my head straight: you have no idea what I’ve done–”

“I know you killed Howard,” Steve swallowed, “She told me– she didn’t know I knew him.”

Bucky looked at him– still the same kid with a chip on his shoulder and a hero complex he’d always been– “That’s one kill, out of how many? I’m not even sure of everything, but I’m pretty sure I’ve assassinated at least a couple world leaders. I slip back into my training– its easy– and I can’t stop analyzing how to kill everyone in the room and get out.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I would KILL you, Steve. No, don’t tell me I wouldn’t– I would. All it would take is triggering the wrong memory, or me waking up and not remembering that you’re my friend Steve and not Captain America, Steve Rogers, the target.”

Fluffy’s voice carried in from the gym, “It doesn’t take that long to wash your hands!”

Jaime spun on his heel and went out– Steve more or less chasing him.

Fluffy was eating out of one of the containers and scribbling in her notebook. “Sex pollen is an overused trope.”

“Uh, what?” Steve blinked at her.

“Fan fiction again, ma’am?”

“Yeah. EAT, you two have a higher metabolism than I do, and you were just sparring.”

Jamie started eating, after a moment so did Steve.

“Sex pollen is an overused what?” asked Steve.

“Trope: a standard type of plot device, like…” she frowned, “You used to draw comic books didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, weren’t there any comic book plots that were just… ‘yawn, again? Yeah I guess no one had a better idea…’?”

“Lots of them.”

“Okay, any idea you can just kind of short hand, like ‘stranded on a desert island, tied up in a warehouse, girlfriend kidnapped,’ is a trope.  One of the classic over used tropes in fan-fic is ‘sex pollen’ or basically the main characters wouldn’t normally be fucking each other, but they got drugged with something that makes them do it.” she shrugged and scraped out the last of her noodles, “It started with weird alien plants that have a pollen that makes you do that– based on a Star Trek episode, actually– but the term now just means “got exposed to something.” She looked up, “usually the villain sets it up, but sometimes it’s an accident.”

Jamie sighed, “I take it you’re writing me and Steve?”

“Trying to.”

“What?!” Steve was spluttering a lot, “Bucky is my friend, we aren’t–”

“Look Captain tight suit, in fan-fic there’s basically slash– sex–, and non-slash… and most slash is utterly made up pairings between characters, because if it was happening in the TV show, or the movie, we wouldn’t have to write it ourselves!”

“We’re real people, not a TV show!” Steve protested.

“You’re celebrities, and some of you have semi-secret private lives that everyone wants to know about.” She shrugged. “Look, when I write fan-fic I DON’T use anything other people couldn’t know, or guess, or make up.  I know that Angel, the X-man, is Warren Worthington– no one else does– so I won’t put that in my fan-fic.”

Jamie nodded, “Yeah, I noticed stuff like that when I read your work.”

“So? I NOW have privileged information that Bucky Barnes is alive, and smoking hot: I can’t write that into a fan-fic.”

“Then what are you TALKING about?”

“Writing a World War Two era fan-fic with you two in it.” Fluffy smirked, “Like the Tijuana Bibles, only gay.”

Steve was pinching the bridge of his nose and apparently trying to think of what to say and then Jamie laughed, “What, like anyone wants me in one? Steve was in a bunch!”

“Gay ones?!” Fluffy sat forward.

“No… I don’t think there were any?  They would have been a lot riskier.  Why would anyone want ME in it, though?”

 “Jamie, most people only know a handful of names from the time period.  ‘Bucky Barnes’ is one of the few people named and known to work with Captain America, so…”

“Could be worse, I guess,” muttered Steve, “could be Dugan.”

Bucky almost choked to death on a noodle.

They ate quietly and Fluffy mostly wrote in her notebook.

After a while, Jamie asked her, “You aren’t upset? That I said…”

“I never said that.” Bucky’s head came up and his eyes were huge, “I SAID I won’t punish you, and I won’t.”

“… I don’t get it?” Jamie said slowly. Steve was staring into his food like it had some kind of coded message.

“I want something- whether or not it’s a good idea, or possible, or whatever isn’t the point– and you are going to get upset if I even talk about it too much: yeah, that upsets me.” She reached over and patted at his arm, “I’d like to be able to at least discuss the idea without you freaking out, but I can’t; so yes I’m upset, and no I’m not going to punish you.”

Jamie was turning that over in his head for a while.

“You… couldn’t say no to them, of course.” Steve said quietly.

Jamie just shook his head.

“No,” Fluffy smiled very sharply, “No is only permitted in response to questions like ‘did you see anyone’ or stuff like that, never in response to ‘I want you to do something’.” She paused, “At least by people like the ones that owned us before–”

Steve’s head snapped over, “Us?!”

Fluffy sighed, “YES, I was owned; NO I don’t mean like I currently play around with a collar. I LIKE my ‘owner’ but that’s a mutual thing: I advise them and they buy me toys.”

Jamie was beginning to think he was hallucinating or something. “Wait…someone owns YOU?”

“Argh! English sucks at this.” Fluffy tugged on her hair. “I was owned–meaning very nasty people who hurt me and made me do what they wanted and I killed them and escaped– and that is NOT the same thing as– I am a submissive cat girl pet to this really nice person who helped me get my feet under me and get introduced to the Hellfire Club and we have an arrangement.”

They both looked like they were trying to puzzle this one out.

“Loki is a dom to Tony, right? You both got that?”

Steve nodded, Jamie said “yes.”

“You both understand that if Tony didn’t WANT to be there, he wouldn’t be?”

Jamie nodded very slowly, Steve said “Yes, Tony took him down  when Loki lost control…”

“Those two have an agreement.  If either of them was unhappy with it they would sit down and talk, and either break up or agree on a new thing. Got it?”

Steve nodded, “We were talking about that after you left, about people who tie each other up for fun and… stuff.”

“I like not having to make decisions sometimes, and having people I like pet me, and chasing laser pointers, and just being silly.” Fluffy crawled over Jamie’s lap and sprawled across him, “Which is nice, but it only works if I trust the person to be good to me and listen if I say ‘no’.”

“Oh… so that’s pretty different.” Jamie thought about it and found himself stroking her hair.  She made a purring noise and curled up in his lap.

“I like being submissive, but unlike a lot of subs I totally run things.  It’s called topping from the bottom.  There’s not a lot of ways to actually top me that don’t end up with me frying the room.” she shrugged. “I also like running things sometimes, but it gets TIRING…”She pouted and did her little girl face, “don’t wanna.  Wanna lie here and be petted, you do stuff.”

Steve shook his head, “You act well, but… no, you sound more genuine when you say you want me on a leash.”

Jamie tensed.

“Jamie… he’s cute. You’re cute. I’m gonna want to do sexy stuff that involves me being the sexy supervillain and him being the  captured hero who can’t help but have a good time once I have my wicked way with him, bwa ha ha.” She actually pronounced the evil laugh, and both of them sort of choked.

Jamie sighed, “Its… They wanted to do to him what they did to me.”

“What?”

“Yeah, they did.” Fluffy glanced over at Steve, “they wanted to either kill you or break you until you were their new Asset.” She looked off at the ceiling and started muttering, “Maybe if I scrubbed all the serial numbers off I could write this up as a fic? I’d have to be really careful not to give too much away, but I bet I could do it…”

“They couldn’t have done that.” Steve frowned.

“Yeah, they could,” Bucky’s New York accent got stronger. “It might take a while but they could, and in the meantime they’d be taking you apart to find out how you work, and why, and if they could improve the others…”

“Others?!” Steve yelped, and _GOD he sounded like a kid when he did that._

“Yeah. I don’t know if they still exist, but they were defective so they put them in the cold until they could fix them. I was the only one that worked, kind of.” Jamie felt very far away, he was half way in between reporting as the Asset and answering as Bucky– it was an odd feeling.

“RIGHT!” Fluffy bounced to her feet and Jamie startled. “So one thing at a time:  Hydra has to be smashed, the other super soldiers have to be found, we probably need to get Jamie a presidential pardon– although that will only work for America it’s still a start– and we have to get upstairs quick.”

“What? Wait… Pardon?” Bucky once again found his head spinning from how fast she changed topics.

“A pardon? Do you think we can get one?” Steve looked hopeful.

“If the Hellfire Club can’t manage it, and S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t manage it, the two groups together should be able to.” Fluffy was tugging on Jamie’s hand. “Come ON we have to get upstairs quick!”

Jamie figured it would all make sense eventually, but Steve–of course– had to ask. “What’s so urgent upstairs?”

“Dessert, silly!”

Steve stopped and stared at her, so Bucky grabbed his hand and they both got towed along by Fluffy.

“Right, dessert…” Jamie laughed, “Priorities!”

“The way you moan when I feed you strawberries? Hell, yes.”

 


	27. Poker face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mayhem is her second favorite word, right after "food".
> 
> corresponds to chapter 70 in "Will You Walk Into My Parlor" and this is NOT the end of Fluffy and Bucky, but at this point the stories diverge a bit much , so... they will continue in a new story arc.
> 
> My proof reader has been too ill, so please do forgive my typos and etc.

_He said no… he said no to me._  

I mean it wasn’t great that he had that kind of reaction to BDSM talk, but… it was pretty damn fabulous that he was able to say no….And that does imply that someday he’d be able to say YES with like… actual free will and enthusiasm… Jamie reminded her too much of herself sometimes…

She pushed any thoughts of anything but dessert out of her head. “Ice cream and strawberries!” She called out as she came in.

“Uh… we don’t keep strawberries in stock, Pepper’s allergic…” Tony said from the couch.

She was working up for an epic pout over it, “Okay, that’s sad… chocolate? Sprinkles? Whipped cream?” She noticed Jamie being all guilty looking at Tony, “No sulking!”

“I wasn’t–” he protested and she glared at him. “Sorry ma’am.”

“You…do look like the pictures of Bucky Barnes, now that I know what to look for.” Coulson said quietly.

Steve took a deep breath and said, “He’s using Jamie right now, from James Buchanan Barnes.”

“So… Ice cream.” Fluffy said firmly.

“Uh, Fluffy?” Feathers cleared his throat, “Some of my teammates wanted to know if they could tell Professor Xavier about Magneto.”

“Doesn’t he know about him already?” she asked as she handed off a bowl of ice cream to Jamie.

They were having ice cream, and if Jamie and Steve were acting like two teenage girls? Well… it was kind of cute…

Warren continued, “I mean that you’ve seen him, recently, or have some idea where he might be.”

“I don’t know where he is, I have his email.” She pushed Steve and Jamie down into two chairs. “Jeez, hook ankles or something; you act like two girls in grade school.”  They both looked embarrassed and adorable.

“You… have Magneto’s email?” Coulson sounded strangled.

 _Huh?_ “One of them? An email? Why?”

“A lot of people have been concerned about him.”

She shrugged, remembering the last time she talked to him in person, “He’s okay, just touchy and he didn’t understand economics.”

“What?”

At that point the elevator doors opened and Pepper Potts and Carol-Vivienne- came in and … didn’t even perk up when Bruce gave them ice cream!

 “Woah, you look like retail during Christmas!”

“That bad?” muttered Carol.

“Not how I’d put it, but yes,” Natasha nodded.

Out of nowhere Clint put on a really smoking hot command voice:  “Right. No one’s accomplishing anything like this: we’re all too tired and too stressed. Remy needs a guest room if he’s going to be working with the team here, the X-men heading home need to find out what they can tell this Professor, and Fluffy, Jamie, and Steve need to be brought up to speed.”

 _Brought up to speed?_ “On what?” Fluffy asked, _wonder what we missed…_

Tony grinned, “Emma got the current location of the Hydra brainwashing lab– among other things– and Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Remy are going to go smash stuff –Coulson stays in the van.”

Fluffy cackled and was about to say something in reply when Jamie said, “You need to get back to Director Fury.”

“Why?” Coulson asked. _Good question._

Jamie’s voice was partway to his Asset voice. “Director Fury was my primary target. The removal of a number of the high level Hydra operatives will have slowed things down, but he is STILL likely to be targeted by the remaining agents.”

Fluffy considered… Director Fury was important and their alliances were tenuous.  “Long-coat sexy with chocolate sauce?” She had the joy of watching everyone sputter and Coulson actually coughed soda onto his tie.

When he finally finished wiping soda off his tie he said, “Not how any of us would describe him– what about him?”

“You can’t go there because you’re still dead, right?” she asked.

“Right.”

“How about Steve, me, and Jamie?”

“…what?” Coulson looked at her all boggled– _sheesh_.

“Steve they expect, right?  Most of the other Hydra agents wouldn’t recognize Jamie– and if they do they might give themselves away– so they won’t be expecting another super soldier, and I LOOK harmless.” She explained, waving a hand at herself.

Natasha nodded slowly, “That might work.”

“It MIGHT?!” Tony stared at her looking all disbelieving and shit.

“When she first showed up with Miss Frost she looked like a young businesswoman– we’ve just gotten used to seeing her in casual wear– she’s observant, and lethal, and as she said; she LOOKS harmless.”

Tony twisted around to look up at Loki. “Maleficent? You have the devious underhanded political assassination knowledge, what’s your take?”

 _Maleficent… that’s a good nickname_ –she made a note to herself and thought about fairy tale fusion fanfics.

Loki considered and nodded. “Agreed, it might work. I am uncertain of what her cover story should be, however.”

Natasha spoke up, “Rookie S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, someone who’s been on the coffee and paperwork intern level and got pulled in because of all the staffing issues.” She considered Jamie with a smirk, “And you two were based at the same base and are trying to convince everyone you HAVEN’T been having a relationship.”

_Ooooh!_

Clint nodded slowly, “Have Maria publicly bitching about it?”

Natasha nodded with a gleam in her eye, “and talking about how pulling the secretarial staff up into agent status reflects badly on the real agents.”

“Sounds like fun!” Fluffy grinned.

Clint nodded, “Hang on; I’ll get it started with Maria.”

“What do I need?” _this sounded like FUN… this sounded like a LOT of fun!_

“A military styled business outfit, pants, by preference,” Natasha said looking her over, “We’ll be pulling you in with barely time to pack so they’ll have to outfit you with a new S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, but the front desk folks at the covert stations never wear them so that’s alright.”

“Wouldn’t Buck-Jamie have one?” Steve asked.

“Preferably, but–”

“Got one.” Jamie said calmly, “I’m the same size as some of the guards at the lab.  The Hellfire Club will have kept the uniforms.”

Fluffy hugged him– _bestest mission bonus ever!_

She was talking quietly to Jamie about opportunities to hunt Hydra agents when she saw green lights washed over Pepper and Carol and… gone.

Coulson had his bland voice back on.  “I trust you put them in their rooms, and didn’t just disintegrate them.”

Loki sniffed “As if I would disintegrate Carol… she would certainly wish to die in a more entertaining and artistic fashion than that!”

Fluffy couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Bruce chuckled, “I don’t know, I think ANY of us that have gone for our PhDs half expected to be murdered in our sleep… for hogging a computer if nothing else.”

The academics sorts all laughed at that one, and then Fuzzy Blue said, “Honestly I expected to sleep walk off a cliff, or possibly be ripped apart by outraged students when I didn’t get the papers graded in time.”

Darcy snorted, “Amateurs! I almost got sucked into a spatio-temporal rift!”

Fluffy was about to call bullshit when Clint looked up from his texting, “That’s true, that and being close to ground zero for the whole Thor mess.”

_Say what? That sounded like something the Club needed to know about…_

Darcy waved her hand, “We had more trouble with S.H.I.E.L.D. than Thor, but none of that was the wormhole effects we were watching open up. I admit the whole, ‘whadya mean he has super powers’ and giant robots and flying hammers thing was a bit weird, but once I made friends with Miu-Miu it wasn’t a problem.”

“Mew Mew?” Fluffy asked, she hadn’t met anyone named Mew Mew…

“The hammer… Miu Miu.”

 _Hammer?_ And then Loki spat his drink up on Tony and Tony was jumping around… _what hammer? A hammer was named Mew Mew? Hammers had names?_

 “Mew Mew?!” Loki was sputtering, “You call one of the greatest artifacts of Asgard MEW MEW?!”

“I can’t pronounce her proper name, but she’s cool with Mew Mew.”

_Greatest artifact of Asgard… Hammer… so that’s Thor’s hammer? Makes sense, folks wear pendants of the things… so it’s sentient?  Gotta tell the club…_

“Right!” Tony interjected, “Fluffy and Jamie need to go get clothes, and  come back, other people need to go home, a few people need to go get rooms and spar or something–”

 _YES!  Enough talk, more mayhem!_ “YAY!” she grabbed Jamie’s wrist and moved toward the elevator. “Mayhem! I love mayhem!”

“I got that impression…” Steve said from behind her in the elevator.

“You do know you need to go back like… now?  We need to go get our gear…” Fluffy nodded.

“Yeah… I just…”

Jamie sighed, “I’ll be fine, Steve… I will.  She’s… she’s been helping.”

Steve pulled Jamie in to a hug and fluffy could see how stiff Jamie was for a moment until he relaxed and  sort of patted Steve on the back. They were being all awkward ‘bro hugs’ at each other until the elevator let them out in the garage.

Fluffy looked back and forth between the two, “remember, when we  show up later  Steve doesn’t know me at all, and at best he may have SEEN Jamie… maybe.”

“It’ll be tough but…” Steve smirked at Jamie, “Gosh no, I don’t play cards…”

Jamie swatted him, “You and that innocent blue eyed act.”

“Wasn’t an act–I have blue eyes…” Steve was grinning.

“Okay, what did I miss? Fess up!” Fluffy was DYING to hear this one.

Jamie explained, “Seemed like there was always some guys that thought it would be fun to  snooker  Captain America at cards or something… and he would put on the ‘Golly, so I’m trying to  get  a bunch of cards in order?’ act and then wipe them out.”

Steve smiled, “Once the Howling commandos tried it and Bucky sat off to the side trying not to let them see him grin…”

Jamie laughed, “Oh I remember that!  Yeah I was polishing my boots and trying not to give it away…” his laugh turned into a sort of wistful smile, “I… remember that…”

Fluffy put her hand on him, “You will remember… you already remember a lot–you’ll remember more, but for right now?  We need to get to work.”

Jamie nodded and looked at Steve, “Got work to do, better get to it, right punk?”

“You know me,” Steve said softly, “Always hated bullies…I’m big enough to give them what for now…”

Fluffy just got in the van and woke up the driver while they got all ‘band of brothers’ at each other.  Eventually Steve went back up the elevator and Jamie got into the van.

“Now what, Ma’am?”

She grinned, “Now we throw the cat and the mutant cyborg assassin among the pigeons…”  



End file.
